Total Guitar 2015 04

editor’s letter
Welcome…
Future Publishing
Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA
Tel: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 822763
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.totalguitar.co.uk
Editorial
Editor Stuart Williams
Content Editor Rob Laing
Reviews Editor Dave Burrluck
Deputy Reviews Editor Michael Brown
Managing Editor Lucy Rice
Production Editor Josh Gardner
Art Editor Leanne O’Hara
The words 'Speed' and 'Lead' on our
Senior Music Editor Jason Sidwell
Music Editor Chris Bird
cover might have brought images of
Music Co-ordinator Natalie Smith
Editor At Large Neville Marten weird blokes with too much body for
Contributors
Steve Allsworth, Simon Bradley, Phil Capone, Rich Chamberlain, Stephen too little Spandex into your mind.
If not, I probably just have. Sorry
Daultrey, Charlie Griffiths, Nick Guppy, Jonathan Horsley, Jamie Hunt, Andy
McGregor, Matthew Parker, Amit Sharma, Gary Walker, Henry Yates
Music Engraver Simon Troup

Audio Mastering Duncan Jordan
Video Production Martin Holmes
about that. Either way, forget your
Photography Joe Branston, Adam Gasson, Neil Godwin, Kevin Nixon,
Gavin Roberts, Joby Sessions, Jesse Wild, Will Ireland
preconceptions starting… now.
Advertising
Phone: 01225 442244 Fax: 01225 732285
Speed affects us all, regardless of our
For advertising queries, please contact
Alison Watson [email protected]
aspirations or musical tastes. We've all
Marketing
Group Marketing Manager Laura Driffield
heard before that the key to playing faster
Marketing Manager Kristianne Stanton
is to play slowly, for ages, until you're so
Production & Distribution
Production Controller Frances Twentyman
Production Manager Mark Constance
bored you want to eat your plectrums. It's
Printed in the UK by: William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future
Distributed by:Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, a bit like the reverse of that film where Keanu Reeves plays a
copper moonlighting as a bus driver because he really loves
London EC1A 9PT, Tel: 0207 429 4000
Overseas distribution by:Seymour International
Circulation
Trade Marketing Manager Michelle Brock 0207 429 3683 buses, and the bus can't go under 50mph because it's running
Subscriptions
UK reader order line & enquiries: 0844 848 2852
late. Or something. But instead of an exploding bus, your
Overseas reader order line & enquiries: +44 (0)1604 251045
Online enquiries: www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk
Email: [email protected]
family want to throttle you with a jack lead for playing the
Licensing
same unmusical lick at 50bpm for hours on-end.
International Licensing Director Regina Erak, [email protected]
Tel: +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax: +44 (0)1225 732275 This month's cover feature is a buffet, nay banquet of speed-
Management
Content & Marketing Director Nial Ferguson
building lessons, brought to you by TG's serial bpm-breaker,
Head of Content & Marketing, Film, Music & Games Declan Gough
Group Editor-In-Chief Daniel Griffiths
Group Art Director Graham Dalzell
Charlie Griffiths. We've picked Charlie's brain to come up with
Next issue on sale 10 April 2015 interesting ways of building lead speed using a range of classic
yet often elusive techniques.
Printed in the UK by William Gibbons on behalf of Future.
Distributed in the UK by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue,
London, EC1A 9PT. Tel: 0207 429 4000
Finally, check out this month's competitions where you could
The ABC combined print
and digital circulation for
Jan-Dec 2013 is:
win a nifty new Apple Watch (see p20) or some rather brilliant
A member of the
Audited Bureau
19,262 Strymon pedals worth over £950 on p22!
of Circulations Print: 16,744 Digital: 2,488
Future is an award-winning international media group and

leading digital business. We reach more than 49 million
international consumers a month and create world-class
content and advertising solutions for passionate
consumers online, on tablet & smartphone and in print.
Future plc is a public Chief executive Zillah Byng-Maddick

company quoted on the Non-executive chairman Peter Allen
London Stock Exchange Chief financial officer Richard Haley
(symbol: FUTR).
www.futureplc.com
Tel +44 (0)207 042 4000 (London)
Tel +44 (0)1225 442 244 (Bath) Stuart Williams, Editor
All contents copyright © 2015 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No
part of this magazine may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or used in any way without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
making this month’s mag:
Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered
office: Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. All information contained in this
publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press.
Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised
to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price and other details of products or
Chris Michael Rob
services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our
control. We are not responsible for their contents or any changes or updates to them.
Bird Brown Laing
If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Future a licence to publish your submission
in whole or in part in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical Chris has Besides his Rob's been
or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every
care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage.
spent much of day job manning preoccupied
his time producing this month's TG’s gear logistics ship and testing with Bluetooth possibilities this
We are committed to only using magazine paper
which is derived from well managed, certified
video lesson for our Open-Mic everything that lands on his desk, month, namely Line 6's new
forestry and chlorine-free manufacture. Future Songbook track – Ed Sheeran's Michael kept Alain Johannes on AMPLIFi TT, which he gets to grips
Publishing and its paper suppliers have been Sing – and putting together the tab the phone for an unprecedented with on p74. Along with the new
independently certified in accordance with the
rules of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). for the Killers’ Smile Like You Mean two hours, grilling him on a career BEAM from Blackstar, it's another
It. Numerous 'Sing Like You Mean that most of us would trade our excuse for us to start playing more
It' errors thus ensued. We think picking hand to experience – Al guitar in the house. “I'm certainly
we've corrected them all… spills the beans on p46. not complaining!” he says.
april 2015 3
win!
an apple
watch
p20
contents
monitor
First Look Jackson JCS Special Edition Soloist B7DX�� 006
Riff Of The Month Mark Ronson – Uptown Funk �� 008
On The Up Black Peaks, Revolution Saints,
Santa Cruz�� 010
In The Studio Paradise Lost�� 012
Five Minutes Alone Steve Lukather�� 014
up your In Praise Of Jackson Randy Rhoads�� 016

Splurge, Save, Steal EVH electrics�� 017
Scale Of The Month Major pentatonic (shape 2)�� 018
Win! Strymon Deco, Timeline & Orla pedals�� 022
Albums This month’s best guitar releases�� 024
Feedback Your letters, tweets and pics�� 026
features
The Cadillac Three Meet the genre-straddling
Nashville country-metallers �� 028
COVER FEATURE: Speed Up Your Lead!
Challenge yourself to up the speed stakes with our
massive tutorial, complete with audio and backing�� 032
Alain Johannes Self-proclaimed solo weirdo on playing
with Them Crooked Vultures, Queens Of The Stone
Age, Brody Dalle and Arctic Monkeys �� 046
Contents: Joby Sessions Tamarind Free Jones Simon Lees Will Ireland Frank White AGF s.r.l./REX
Metal Virtuosos Round Table Marty Friedman,
Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott chew the fat�� 050
Steal Their Style Mark Knopfler�� 056
Sleeping With Sirens Floridian post-harcorers
speed up your lead! 032 on their “make or break” new album ��
Interpol The kings of New York gloom-indie are
060
Get ready to go faster… 064
032
Cover: Joe Branston Joby Sessions Will Ireland AGF s.r.l./REX
still burning bright ��
050 metal 046 016

round table alain johannes in praise of…
4 april 2015
issue 265 april 2015
SONG
TAB IS
BACK!
p92
076 round-up
farida mahogany acoustics
Gear
Fender Classic Series ’60s Jaguar Lacquer �� 072
Line 6 AMPLIFi TT�� 074
St Blues Juke Joint Mississippi Bluesmaster�� 075
Round-up Farida Mahogany Acoustics�� 076
Presonus Audiobox iTwo Studio�� 082
Ltd TL-6�� 083
Round-up Joyo JF-300 Ironman Pedals�� 084
the cadillac 028 064
three interpol Quick Tests MXR Il Torino Overdrive CSP033
& DigiTech Mosaic�� 086
Accessories �� 088
techniques
Classic Track
The Killers – Smile Like You Mean It�� 092
Open-Mic Songbook
Ed Sheeran – Sing�� 098
Guest Lesson Tosin Abasi�� 102
ed sheeran
098 ‘sing’ Get Your Grades Rockschool�� 106
Get Your Grades RGT�� 107
the killers 092 Subscribe now & Save!

‘smile like you mean it’ Choose from print, digital or bundled subscriptions on p108!
april 2015 5
first look…
Army-geddon
Jackson breaks cover
with the JCS Special
Edition Soloist B7DX
R
arely have we seen a more
battle-ready axe than the
latest offering from
Jackson’s Custom Select series.
Limited to just 10 pieces
worldwide, and only three in
Europe, this seven-string
behemoth is as hard to find on the
street as it is on the battlefield.
The Custom Select series gives
you all the options and
craftmanship of the Jackson
Custom Shop, but starting at a
comparatively reasonable £2,000,
available from your local Jackson
dealer. This particular example
is priced at £2,722 – see the
opposite page to find out why…
The Matte Army Drab finish

extends to the headstock
Photography: Simon Lees
6 april 2015
first look monitor
1 Pickups 2 Finish 3 neck

Two direct-mount Bare The appropriately When your neck’s on
Knuckle Aftermath named Matte Army Drab the line, you had better
humbuckers are on hand to finishes the Jackson’s be ready for action, and
arm the B7DX with tonal Soloist baritone-shaped the B7DX fits the bill
firepower, and kitted out alder body, while a with a compound
with BK’s Battleworn finish, Jackson HT-7 hardtail radius ebony ’board
they look as if they’ve seen a bridge keeps the seven sitting on top of oiled
few years of service, too strings in check quartersawn maple
April 2015 7
monitor section

o
n
t
h
e
Black Peaks
u J Inspired by Royal Blood, Brit Rock is scaling new heights
oe Gosney, guitarist with Brighton’s
Black Peaks, has had a better-than-
average week when TG speaks to him
Shape Shifter, Boss RV-5 reverb, Electro-
Harmonix #1 Echo, Ibanez Tube Screamer,
Marshall Bluesbreaker, DigiTech DropTune
p
in late January. His band have just passed and… you get the picture.
their new single Glass Built Castles (due 6 “I do like my effects,” he states. “But I try
April) to Radio One, only to find it quickly to hold back on them, because playing live,
championed by rock jock Daniel P Carter, it’s much more important for us to be
dubbed hottest record in the world today performing and running about onstage
by Zane Lowe and land the station’s rather than staring at my ’board the whole
coveted single of the week slot. time. So they get used quite selectively.
“We’re so hungry as a band that we More and more so, especially on the album,
always find pre-release times quite it’s been about getting great tones just
difficult. You’re just itching to get out there using the guitar and amp.”
and play,” says the guitarist. After some dark times, it seems – if you’ll
“But getting that first track out there on excuse our inner Partridge – that the sky’s
radio has been amazing and the now the limit for British rock.
response… it’s done so much more than we “Last year was a good year for rock in
thought it would, so we’re really happy.” the UK, and it seems to be making a
The track in question is a snorting, resurgence,” reckons Joe. “Royal Blood
head-banging rock stag with elements of kicked off massively, but then bands like
prog entangled in its antlers. Carter Marmozets and Lonely The Brave as well
describes it as “Jeff Buckley meets Tool, – they’re all putting decent well-written
with a bit of Mastodon”. rock tunes back on the map in the UK. We
“It’s got to be powerful,” says Joe of the have a lot to thank those bands for, because
band’s sound. “It’s a really shit answer, but without them opening that music back up
it’s got to evoke an emotion in you. Dark, to a wider audience we might not be
heavy and with that beautiful edge to it.” getting the opportunities we get now.”
Joe’s the only guitarist in the band, so
beefs up his tone with a Gibson SG and Les For fans of: Tool, Marmozets, Lonely The
Paul Custom through an Orange Rocker. Brave Hear: Glass Built Castles
Then it’s a Line 6 DL4, Seymour Duncan
10 april 2015
on the up monitor
Revolution Saints
AOR’s holy trinity, the Saints, go marching in…
T
his is a power trio with a been working on with Gibson,
difference: melody. Built and recorded while playing with
around former Whitesnake supergroup Raiding The Rock
guitarist Doug Aldrich, Night Vault in Las Vegas.
Ranger bassist Jack Blades and “We were performing at the
the brow-raising vocal talents of Hilton, where Elvis had finished
Journey drummer Deen up his career,” explains Doug.
Castronovo, their self-titled debut “Underneath the stage there was
oozes with the latter’s melodic a bar that had been built for Elvis,
rock roots. so during his gig he could go
“Deen’s the frontman and the down there and smoke, or have
driver – he’s like Steven Tyler on his friends down. When I was
drums,” enthuses Doug. “Then looking for a place to record the
Jack Blades is like ‘The Boss’, and guitars, I found that bar and
he’s one of the greatest melodic cleaned it out. Something about
bass players out there, which was that room had a really unique
© Jeff Allen at Orion’s Eye Photography

really fun for me.” sound. I can only imagine who’s
The songs were written and been in there – Frank Sinatra,
produced by melodic rock Bing Crosby – they were all
maestro Alessandro Del Vecchio, probably down there!”
with the three members sending
in their parts remotely. Doug used For fans of: Journey, Night
his 1979 Marshall JMP and a Ranger Hear: Turn Back Time
prototype custom Les Paul he’s
Santa Cruz
Party-rocking Scandinavian shred saviours
F
inland’s Santa Cruz have secret, says Johnny, is going back
streamlined glam-metal into to the blues.
a potent, heavy form: expect “Listen to BB King,” he tells TG.
crushing riffs, wailing vocals and “You hear so many guitar players
duelling guitars. The only who don’t have the balls on the
problem is deciding who takes bends – to be like ‘WAAAAH
the lead. WAH!’. So it gets interesting when
“We’re always playing rock- you learn to play like that and
paper-scissors!” laughs guitarist combine it with shred guitar.”
Johnny Parkkonen. “That’s how Armed with an Axe-Fx and a ’59
we decide. I used to win a lot, but reissue Les Paul, Johnny is
nowadays I’m getting beaten, so currently preparing to hit the UK
I think I have to train more!” in support of their new self-
The band formed when Johnny titled album.
met frontman and fellow shred “We have this one song called
head Archie Kuosmanen at a Vagabonds that I can’t wait to play
music camp in their teens. “I had live,” he enthuses. “There’s, like,
this Mötley Crüe patch on my a two-minute solo battle.”
back that he liked,” recalls the The rock-paper-scissors
guitarist. “That’s how it started.” obviously went out of the window
Dodgy shredders are 10 a on that one.
penny, but Johnny and Archie are
some of the finest face melters For fans of: Mötley Crüe
we’ve had the pleasure of Hear: Wasted And Wounded
encountering in recent years. The
april 2015 11
monitor section
In the Studio EVH/Peavey 5150s

Greg’s board, with a Vox V810
and Nine Of Swords Funeral
Party, has dirt well covered!
were at the heart of one
of the two amp stacks
Greg guided producer

Jaime Gomez Arellano on
the guitar sound he wanted
Mayones guitars were an

Artist: instrument of choice for
Greg on The Plague Within
Paradise Lost
Yorkshire’s darkest and metal’s lone wolves are taking it to extremes on this one…
“It could be a bit of a Marmite album,” cohesive. As it came together, the death with a pedal by Nine Of Swords called
notes a sage Greg Mackintosh of the metal elements became more prevalent, so Funeral Party. It’s a really great simple
Yorkshire metallers’ looming 14th opus. the album ended up with more of those old-school distortion pedal, along the lines
“Sometimes, it’s nice to do albums that are elements than we’d first anticipated. But it’s of the early Slayer sound. You add a bit of
expected, in a way, but for a career like ours got a good ebb and flow to it.” that onto a 5150 and you’ve got a really great
it’s important to do certain records and Producer Jaime Gomez Arellano brought classic metal sound. We blended the two to
songs where you try something else.” vintage gear and pedal chain suggestions to get this unique guitar sound.”
The band’s bravest risks have often the table at his London Orgone Studios, but The new approaches extended to Greg
reaped creative rewards; whether through Greg had his own ideas about how to make and Aaron’s dynamic for this record.
their own bleakly ethereal take on death his and rhythm guitarist Aaron Aedy’s sound “We tried to blur the line between the sound
metal with 1991’s, aptly-titled of the harmony guitars and the
Gothic, or leaving metal to enter
a more Depechian Mode in the
late 90s with One Second and
“We want it to sound like rhythms. We wanted to blend it
together more, and we took it
section by section. We decided
Host, a strong sense of versatility
and the melodic has always lit
their dark road. Now, following a
no one else in metal” which part our style would suit
best. It was an interesting way
of working that we hadn’t done
glorious run through the heavier realms of distinct from some of the homogenised before, more constructive.”
metal in recent years, the band’s going high-gain tones found on other Whatever fans make of The Plague Within,
full-bore into extremes. contemporary metal records. Greg hopes its tones uphold the band’s
“A certain track, like Flesh From Bone, is “We set up two completely guitar stack reputation for standing alone in the scene.
probably the fastest song we’ve done systems and run them through together as “We deliberately went down a different
tempo-wise,” reveals Greg, “while Beneath one guitar sound,” Greg explains. “So we had route, where we want it to sound like no one
Broken Earth is quite possibly the slowest.” one sludgy, retro sound, like an old else in metal. Whether we've achieved that,
But we’re not just talking tempos here. Sabbath-y sound going into an old Marshall I have no idea until everyone hears it.”
“We weren’t shying away from any with an Orange cab and an old Boss Hyper
period,” says Greg of The Plague Within’s Fuzz and the Vox V810 [overdrive] on it. The Plague Within will be released
writing process. “But it also had to be Then we had a [EVH/Peavey] 5150 set up, through CenturyMedia on 1 June
12 april 2015
monitor section
that way because rock ’n’ roll can

suck you in and spit you out. Try
going on the road for 40 years for
200 days a year. It’s a mind-fuck.”
Bring it on home…
“The thing about practice is, don’t
practise what you know, practise
what you don’t. Don’t make it
easy for yourself when you’re
sitting at home alone, and then
when you’re on the gig you can
do whatever you want. And you’ll
have taken the time to enhance
your vocabulary.”
Brothers in arms…
“Michael Landau and I grew up
together since we were 12 years
old; he’s one of the most brilliant
guitar players in the world. He’s
also one of my oldest friends.
We sort of pushed each other in
a very healthy way. And I went
right, he went left, and there was
a point where we grew up writing
and listening to the same things,
practising together and playing in
a million bands together.
“We were the two young guys
5 minutes alone who could play real good in the

LA Basin at that time. And we
Steve Lukather
were these two little kids – it’d be
like, ‘Who are these two little
fuckers who can play like that?’
It was pretty funny. As technique
moved on with all the prog shit,
He’s back with Toto on new album XIV, but that’s only part of the story – we learned it all. And whenever
you heard something you couldn’t
the prolific session icon has some wisdom all players can learn from play, you wanted to figure it out.
So we had to seek people out –
Break on through to the fucking good ideas just to dispel Rock ’n’ roll over… there was no internet to do that.
other side… the myth that old guys don’t have “It’s so funny because I was doing You either picked it off the record
“A breakthrough moment? Oh, any fresh ideas, or that we’re just a charity event last Monday night, or you found somebody who
that’s easy – George Harrison, rehashing some riffs to throw and it was like Billy Gibbons, played it right. It was usually
I Saw Her Standing There. Off The out there so we can go play the Slash, Sambora, Orianthi, myself, older guys. But it was a lot harder
Beatles’ first album, that was the hits and get paid on the road.’ We and we’re standing there with to get it together back then.”
one where I said, ‘I want to be weren’t gonna do that. Because all these guys and I’m looking
that guy.’ The sound of that to a it took 10 years, and in 10 years around and nobody’s drinking at Listen, do you want to know
kid who was seven or eight – by who knows if there’s gonna all and there’s no partying. We’re a secret?
today’s standards, it’s tame – but even be a record business? So all going, ‘Yep, we used to be “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes,
at the time there was nothing like we wanted to at least come back carried out of every place we went because any great player will tell
it. That just ripped into my soul. strong and play to our audience. and now we’re all back to having a you that any night they’ll make
That touched me deeply and I was We didn’t try to say, ‘Oh, let’s water and everybody talking very mistakes. Whenever you do a live
able to tell George that because get some rappers in here – let’s softly and mature.’ Still having a recording, it’s always the shittiest
we became friends later in life.” find out some new artist and be lot of laughs, though. I like to feel night, and you have to wince
relevant…’ Fuck that shit – we just good every day and I’m so glad through it for the rest of your
Hold the line… want to be us. If you like us, then that I found my brain again, and life and then you go, ‘Fuck! Why
“It’s been 10 years since [Toto] you’re probably going to dig this.” my soul. And I think we all feel did I shit the bed, man? We were
did a record and there’s a lot of recording!’ And you gotta go,
expectations. It was born out of
litigation, and there was a lot
“ George Harrison, I Saw Her ‘Nobody’s perfect’ – and we all feel
that way. Ask any musician.”
Standing There – that was the one
© Rob Shanahan
of clouds around this and we

wanted to go: ‘Okay, if we’re Toto’s new album XIV is out now on
gonna do an album, it better be where I said, ‘I want to be that guy’” Frontiers Music Srl.
14 april 2015
monitor section
in praise of…
Jackson
Randy Rhoads
The signature that
launched a crazy
train of events
A
s well as cementing his
name as one of the great
metal guitarists of all time
during his all-too-brief stint with
Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads
propelled Jackson guitars into the
mainstream. Back in 1978, luthier
Grover Jackson had just bought
the Charvel brand when Randy
requested a new V-style axe.
Jackson’s resultant instrument
– produced with Charvel’s Tim
Wilson and Mike Shannon – was
an asymmetrical V shape with a
maple neck-through-body design,
ebony fretboard, Strat-style
vibrato and Seymour Duncan
humbuckers. Rhoads dubbed it
the Concorde, and it became the
first guitar to bear Jackson’s
name, thus launching the brand.
Jackson made several revisions
to the original Randy Rhoads
design before its release, most
notably extending the guitar’s
upper horn to differentiate it
from the Flying V, but tragically,
Randy was killed in a plane crash
before the guitar was put into
production. The model has lived
on in various guises, including the
space-age Roswell Rhoads, with
just about every big name in metal
wielding one at some point – and,
thanks to Randy, the same can be
said for Grover Jackson’s guitars
in general.
Randy Rhoads commissions Grover Jackson to

1980 build him a guitar
Randy passes away in a private plane crash
1982 in Florida, aged 25
The Jackson Randy Rhoads model is put
1983 into production
Jackson offers a Rhoads model to KISS
1984 guitarist Vinnie Vincent
16 april 2015
splurge, save, steal monitor
EVH electrics The Eddie Van Halen brand is on the rise – here are three
riff-ready rock machines, whatever your budget…
April 2015 17
monitor section
Major pentatonic scale (shape 2) OF THE MONTH
TGR265.mon_scale.fig01.musx Major pentatonic shape 2
T
his month’s scale contains the the 7th fret, sixth string the lowest note
This month, we venture two13:17
File Date: frets09/02/2015 notes of the A major pentatonic Scale
is B; this doesn’t meanof the
that Month
it is a
higher up the fretboard to explore
Page 1 of 1 scale (A B C# E F#), but is played ‘B scale’. The actual root note
Contributor: Charlie Griffithsis ‘A’, which
higher up the fretboard. When you is found on the 7th fret, fourth string.
shape 2 of the majorNotes:
pentatonic scale move away from the first shape of any Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Start on this note and play through the
scale the lowest note is no longer a root scale to familiarise yourself with the
note. If you start this month’s shape on shape before trying the riffs and licks.
Poisso n tracks 09-10

# # # 4 . ~~~~ ~~~~~~~
This hair metal-style q =100 Play 4 times
& 4 .œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ ..
riff starts on the root note
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
‘A’ and descends the three
bass strings. It is good
~~~~ ~~~~~~~
practice to play this part of
TGR265.mon_scale.fig02.musx Major Pentatonic Shape 2
. 09/02/2015 .
the scale with your second PM PM PM
and fourth fingers, but for Scale of the Month
A 1 of 1 . 7 .
File
T Date: 16:00
the purposes of rocking
out use your first and third Page 7 7 7 Contributor: Charlie
7 9 7Griffiths
B 9 7 7 7 9 9 7 7 7 9
fingers instead. Notes: 9 9 7 9
Engraved
9
by DigitalMusicArt.Com
9 7 9
Mar r’s bar s q = 200 tracks 11-12

œœ
# # # 4 . œœ œœ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œœ œœ ‰ œ ‰ œ ‰ œ œ œ ‰ œœ ‰ œœ ‰ œœ ‰ œœ ‰ œœ œœ Œ .
This upbeat indie riff E 5/B A E 5/B A A A 6/9 A5
& 4 . œ œ œ œ œ œ J J J J Jœ œ .
takes advantage of the
J J J J J J
doublestop shapes found
within pentatonic scales.
Keep your strumming TGR265.mon_scale.fig03.musx Major Pentatonic shape 2
hand moving down and up
continuously so that the
.
File Date: 13:23 09/02/2015
.
Scale of the Month
A 1 of 1. .
9 9 7 7
numerous upbeats T 10 10 7 7 7 7 10 10
are played with

Page 9
9
9
9
6
7
6
7
6
7
9
9
9
9
6
7
6
7
6
7 Contributor:
6 6 Charlie
9 9 Griffiths
7 7
punchy upstrokes. B
Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Bend it like BB tracks 13-14

œ œ~~~~~ nœ œ œ
q.= 80
## œ . œ œ œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~
j
The second major j j
& # 12 J
œ œ
8 .. ‰ ‰ J ‰ J J œ w. ..
pentatonic shape is a
J
favourite soloing position
Guitars and backing: Charlie Griffiths
of blues legend BB King.
~~~~~ ~~~~~~
For a bluesy vibe, we’ve
. .
added a note from outside BU BU
the scale: the string bend 7 (9) (8)
. .
7 7 7
that opens bar 2 lands on
T 10 7 10 10 7
9 6
a C instead of the C#
A 9 7
found in the scale.
B
18 April 2015
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22 april 2015
monitor section
Albums
Falling In Reverse
Just Like You
The third album from the

Las Vegas phenomenon led by
singer Ronnie Radke is a curious
old record. It’s an album of
contrasts. Yes, for the most part it
sounds like a mildly nauseating
blend of Good Charlotte and My
Chemical Romance, but it
manages to hit some huge highs,
before plummeting as low as a
snake’s dick time and again. It’s a
trend that’s illustrated perfectly by
Sexy Drug – British guitarist Jacky
Vincent treats us to a bouncy
pop-punk riff and solo, but these
are bookended by the most
abhorrent lyrics you’ll find
anywhere outside of the Sunset
Noel Gallagher
Strip circa 1987.
Richard Chamberlain
Download: God, If You Are Above
Chasing Yesterday
W
e shouldn’t expect any real curveballs from Noel
20 years into his rock ’n’ roll career, but this second
Dan Swanö album betters his first by offering something old,
something new, and a deeper soul. Opener Riverman was
the last touted in some quarters as a serious departure, and though the
album Santana-esque extended solo from former Black Crowes

collaborator Paul Stacey is a sublime diversion, its easy 70s
Torche
Restarter
i bought… groove really sets much of the tone for a record often driven by
mesmeric rhythms as much as riffs. A case in point is The Right In recent years, Torche have
Prophet Stuff, the most dramatic diversion here; a hypnotic acid jazz carved themselves a niche as
Cycle of jam with vocalist Joy Rose that boasts serious sax appeal. torchbearers of feelgood metal,
the Moon The Chief still wears his influences on his sleeve, this time while maintaining their sludge and
with the space-age Bowie strummer The Girl With X-Ray Eyes, stoner roots. So, although Restarter
One of the forgotten jewels from is awash with detuned riffage,
the late 80s; the guitarist, Ken complete with a spidery discordant solo, but the two standouts
Dubman, is one of my heroes. Just here borrow from his own past. A version of Lock All The Doors feedback-driven breakdowns and
listen to his tone and phrasing in some of the most aggressive fuzz
was demo’d by Oasis as far back as 1992 with Liam on vocals,
Sound Of A Breaking Heart, Cycle tones you’ll hear this year, it also
Of The Moon and Hyperspace. and though reworked, its Morning Glory and My Big Mouth- deals a heavy hand in major keys
© Lawrence Watson Eva Maria Swanö
Dubman has the ability to play reminiscent surge is intensified. You Know We Can’t Go Back is and psychedelia. The album isn’t
single-string riffs with just the right
amount of attitude. I just have to
even more immediate, a joyous anthem in the mould of classic a huge leap forward from 2012’s
get my air guitar out and to do my early Oasis B-sides Acquiesce and Step Out, the ringing lead Harmonicraft in that respect, but
‘head bobbing rock face’. Even breaks sending its trajectory further skywards. Rather like the storming pace of Loose Men
though the album sounds a bit and Undone treads new ground,
80s, his tone is timeless vintage! Noel’s post-band fortunes.
while Annihilation Affair and Barrier
Rob Laing Download: Riverman Hammer’s guttural chugging
treads an altogether darker path.
exceptional | excellent | good | for fans of | poor Michael Brown
Download: Restarter
24 april 2015
albums monitor
books:
Death Cab For Cutie Various Artists We Are Harlot The Guitar Collection
Kintsugi Immortal Randy Rhoads We Are Harlot Tony Bacon
Kintsugi marks a turning With an all-star cast that Singer Danny Worsnop’s This weighty tome covers
point in DCFC’s career: not only is includes heroes such as Tom departure from Asking Alexandria the link between iconic guitars
it the band’s final album with Morello, George Lynch and Doug to give WAH his full attention and players with valuable
guitarist Chris Walla, but it’s also Aldrich, this tribute to the looks like a good move. The Skid insight. Bacon’s knowledge
the first to employ an outside inimitable legacy left by deceased Row and Slash shapes being makes him the perfect guide to
producer, Muse man Rich Costey. Ozzy guitarist Randy Rhoads thrown by former Sebastian Bach take us through guitar history,
Fortunately, this swansong of certainly boasts some interesting guitarist Jeff George with the riffs with chapters divided between
sorts holds more surprises than takes on his work. Anthrax on Dirty Little Things and One More flat-tops, hollowbodies and
2011’s Codes And Keys, with a axeman Jon Donais contributes Night – along with some hell-for- solidbodies. But the dual
renewed focus on atmosphere his own whammy bar stunts to leather soloing – prove the English and German language
and the guitar sounds, as Over The Mountain, while current impressive foil for Worsnop’s text is not wunderbar for the
evidenced in Walla and Ben Ozzy gunslinger Gus G rips whisky-infused vocals. Someday £39.99 asking price. The
Gibbard’s use of delay and through classic ballad Goodbye To also shows they’ve been paying guitars are presented in
modulation, plus a smattering of Romance with all the heart and attention to the Leppard gospel of prominent glory regardless,
acoustic balladry (Hold No Guns) soul that it commands. The overall 80s power pomp. Such is the and there’s the bonus inclusion
and unexpectedly funky pop result is an entirely fitting tribute success of the modern vintage of a seven-inch single featuring
(Good Help (Is So Hard To Find)). to one of the most inspiring here, this might just unite the a superstar cast (May, Gilmour,
It’s an eclectic collection, but an guitarists the metal world has younger fanbase of AA with the Blackmore, Lifeson, Iommi)
engaging one nonetheless. ever known. grey panthers in the crowd. recording of Smoke On The
Michael Brown Amit Sharma David Hands Water from 1989.
Download: Ingénue Download: Believer Download: Never Turn Back David Hands
Cancer Bats Steven Wilson Halestorm We Are The Ocean

Searching For Zero Hand. Cannot. Erase. Into The Wild Life Ark
For album number five, The modern champion of the After two well-received Since the departure of singer
Canada’s Cancer Bats teamed up concept album returns with a albums (and a Grammy), it would Dan Brown, We Are The Ocean
with legendary producer Ross record that’s more of a studio have been easy enough for have swapped post-hardcore for
Robinson; what could possibly go construct than 2013’s Halestorm to have amped up the rock in all its guises. The Opethian
wrong? Let’s start with what they comparatively live The Raven That pop side of their game on number prog-lite of opener Ark is quickly
got right, then. Opener Satellites is Refused To Sing. It allows Wilson’s three and shot straight for replaced by Hives-esque indie
a belter blessed with a chorus production skill to shine in a way mainstream radio playlists. swagger on I Wanna Be and
hook that will imbed itself into that will be appreciated by fans of However, Into The Wild Life is their Morello riffery (Do It Together),
your brain. The tsunami of noise his band Porcupine Tree, and heaviest material yet. It’s also the before turning to Beatles-y
that is All Hail, meanwhile, frames guitarist Guthrie Govan’s finest of their three records. acoustic fingerpicking (Letter To
provides proof that the Bats still outstanding performance. His Lzzy Hale puts in the vocal Michael) and Gaslight Anthem
have their bite. But, too often, improvised solos are a key performance of her life, her rasp Americana (Hope You're Well,
Scott Middleton’s riffs are lost in a component; breaking through in on I Am The Fire and the primal Wild). This sonic meandering
muddy mix as the band fail to Regret #9 and drawing out scream that sees out Amen are opens up ample opportunity for
mould their most Sabbath-esque jaw-dropping expression in definite stand-out moments. tasty valve overdrive and fuzz
material to date into the classic Ancestral and the more Guitarist Joe Hottinger is in top tones, but it’s not quite clear
record that they’re undoubtedly traditionally structured Happy form, too, putting in his most where the real Ocean lies beneath
capable of producing. Returns/Ascendant Here On. consistent solo work to date. the sea of sonic reference points.
Richard Chamberlain Rob Laing Richard Chamberlain Michael Brown
Download: Satellites Download: Hand Cannot Erase Download: Amen Download: Ark
april 2015 25
Feed ack
Choose
sta r p r i z e !
TC Electronic TonePrint pedal
your
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Take your pick from TC’s TonePrint series, including

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[email protected] letters emails pics etc…
letter
Perhaps we were a
little tough on DJs. No
Sid Wilson from Slipknot plays a offence, Joel’s mum…
key part in their sound, and Tom
Morello’s bleeps and bloops are
DJ H e r o e s from listening to DJing! Also, my
First of all, I just wanted to say mum used to be a DJ…
thanks for the amazing magazine! Joel, via email
My friend got me my first one You’re right, Joel: as Mr Morello has
back in April 2012, and I’ve been a taught us, guitarists can find
subscriber since! Anyways, I read inspiration from all areas of music.
your Final Countdown in issue Rest assured our Final Countdown
263 [10 reasons why playing was just meant as a gentle ribbing
– do tell your mum that we don’t mean
guitar is better than DJ-ing], and to do down her former trade. You can
while I agree with most of them, make it up to her with a brand-new
you shouldn’t slate DJs so much! TC Electronic TonePrint pedal!
You’re stuffed! You’ve really

Labour of love Bl a c k Ta b -at h dropped the ball. Seriously awful. hot shots
Hi TG, I have had a subscription Hi, I’ve just downloaded the latest I’ve never been so disappointed
“I’m a guitar teacher, and even
for many moons (paid for each issue of TG. I’m an English teacher that I’ve written a letter of though I know my craft, I still
year by my wonderful wife, Lisa). living in Seville. I download a complaint. If the next couple of need to go over my bread and
I had a lay-off from playing for a number of guitar magazines and months don’t improve, I’ll be butter from time to time”
long time for various reasons, but yours was easily the best. Was. forced to cancel my subscription
still kept reading. I’m struggling as to where to as a consequence of the immense
Now I am playing and learning begin. You’d nailed it!!! Then you disappointment I feel.
again, and TG is instrumental in do this! I can get any tab I want off Kevin Hill, Seville
this. What can I say about opening the internet with much better
the latest issue yesterday? Oh playback facilities. Take the Hi Kevin, sorry to hear you’re not a fan
Well by Peter Green and Iron Maiden track. Why don’t you of tab coming back, but we feel we’ve
Maiden tab! I thought the break the playback into sections? retained a good balance of the new
formats we’ve brought in over the past
12-minute workouts were a great It would be easier to follow. But I year, plus the full song tabs. What do
idea, so it would be great if they digress. The previous format was the rest of you think?
carried on, as structured practice packed with useful tips and
is great for me. Thanks again for different styles – this ‘new’ format
a great mag, and one that comes is the same as 12 months ago
ring ring
across as a real labour of love more or less, when I got the Who in your office has two ring
from its creators. impression your fingers, then? [Guitar This
month’s Mike Gent
Mang Lee, via email target audience Shop Ammo, issue winner Kent
was teenagers. 263] Where’d you get
A full song? What your fingers from? Send us your pics and win
O u t o f l e f t- h a n d a waste of space! I want some! an Orange amp worth £199!
Come on guys, not one of the Combined with the Robin Davies, Facebook Email your shots to us with your full
guitars reviewed in the February terrible playback, name and address. The best wins an
Orange Crush 35RT amp.
edition [263] is available for the it’s bordering on the As a great poet once said:
more superior guitar player… yes, criminal! And what ‘If you like it, put a ring on www.orangeamps.com
us lefties! Same goes for stomper if you’re not that it.’ So, if you really like it,
you should put two rings
reviews, lol! interested in the TG Sticks two ring
on it – a chord such as
Dylan Williams, Anglesey tabbed songs? fingers up to E13…
E13 deserves it.
facebook.com/totalguitar twitter.com/totalguitar youtube.com/totalguitar
“New issue arrived, with “I have a Pedaltrain Nano “Who needs Valentine’s “And about time you brought
tabs. I can try to play along that NEEDS a Dunlop cards when the latest issue back tab, too. Now how about
to Two Minutes To Midnight” Cry Baby Mini” gets delivered instead?! tabbing Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose?”
TheeKnightOfTrashe, Adam Kilchenman, I love you guys!!” Neil Foster,
Twitter Facebook Adam Joseph, Twitter Facebook #Speak up… Don’t be shy
26 april 2015
interview the cadillac three
‘Grungegrass’? Country metal? The Nashville

Nirvana? Call them what you will, The Cadillac Three
are taking a chainsaw to country music…
Words: Matthew Parker Pics: Will Ireland
F
ormed out of the fallout from previous As a band, you make a point of noting your was around when I was a kid and I was
band American Bang – a group torn apart Nashville heritage. How does hailing from immersed in it, because my parents were in
by label interference – Nashville’s Nashville affect your sound? the business. These days, it has changed. It’s
Cadillac Three swore to never again let “I think it’s definitely something you hear very pop-orientated and it’s laced with people
themselves be manipulated by outsiders. – you hear The South in us; whether that’s just trying to make it ‘country’, you know?”
Instead, the three remaining members Nashville or not, I don’t know. I think a lot of
– guitarist Jaren Johnston, drummer Neil times these days it’s perceived, at least in the Your father played drums on the Grand Ole
Mason and lap steel player Kelby Ray States, as straight country. There’s a lot of Opry. What do you recall about the show?
– reconvened in a garage, recorded their debut stuff that comes out of Nashville, a lot of “It’s like your version of Whispering Bob
record, Tennessee Mojo, in just five days and gospel, a lot of big country, and a lot of Harris’s show. It’s huge. I grew up going there
then hit the road. Tours with everyone from playing by the rules. We’re real proud to be as a kid, watching him do it and watching all
ZZ Topp to Mötley Crüe ensued before the representing something different from of the greats do it. Dad would bring me along
trio’s metalled-up approach to outlaw country Nashville – not just country, not just rock. because it was cheaper than having a
– plus Jaren’s sideline in writing hits for I think it’s good for us and for Nashville.” babysitter and I loved it there. He’d just turn
Nashville stars – won them the attention of me loose backstage. It was a lot – anywhere
one Scott Borchetta, better known as the Country music is such a broad term. What from five to 11 years old – and it was a very
industry svengali behind Taylor Swift. does it mean to you? influential time in my life. You were walking
Now the Southern trio are in the unlikely “Country is weird because I’m involved in so around backstage and seeing Garth Brooks
position of being able to play to a packed-out many sides of it. There’s what we do, whether play for the first time and falling in love with
tent at Sonisphere and hang out with the you want to call it country – in the States, or that whole thing…”
world’s biggest pop star. We spoke to Jaren here I think you’d just call it rock – but I think
about his Nashville roots, low-end lap steel it’s a hybrid. Then, to me, it means old Bands such as Rage Against The Machine
and just what he has in common with country: Hank Williams, Don Williams, Hugh and Metallica were big influences on you,
Taylor Swift. Willy, Clint Black, Garth Brooks – stuff that too. How did they come into your life?
28 april 2015
The cadillac three interview
video
w w w.bit c
a
.l y/
d il la
tg 26 5 c
Mirror, mirror on the wall,

who’s the most genre-
spanning country-metal
band of them all?
april 2015 29
interview the cadillac three
“Well, all of the country stuff was when I was

younger, then you get into your angst-ridden
pubescent years and you’re all ‘fuck the Gun for hire
world!’ I was 13 or 14 years old and I just so
happened to get an electric and an acoustic Jaren’s sideline as a songwriter for the stars of Nashville
guitar for Christmas – a pink Kramer and a When not steering The Cadillac Three, Jaren Three song and sometimes it takes a
nylon-string Epiphone classical acoustic. is a Grammy Award-winning songsmith to different alley and I’ll think, ‘Oh, this would
I would sit with that classical guitar and pick some of Nashville’s biggest names, including sound good if Keith Urban sung it…’
out songs off Nevermind. Then, once I got the Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. “[The key for beginners is to] write as
little amp for the electric, I would go through “I was always enamoured by the art of the many songs as you can with as many people
Rage Against The Machine riffs, like songwriter: developing a story and putting it as you can and learn something each time.
Bombtrack. I would eat up riffs like that. That, to a melody,” he tells TG. “And I thought that There were years where I wrote 500/600
with all of the country stuff beforehand, kind if I could make money doing it then that songs in a year and maybe 10 were good.
of melded into this one weirdo!” would be cool, too! I just sit down and write, So just write as much as you can and you will
and sometimes it’ll end up being a Cadillac start getting there.”
Speaking of metal, you played Sonisphere
festival last summer. How did that go?
“It was Sunday at noon! We flew 30 hours to I’d quit before we did something we didn’t pickups and I loved it. So then every time
get here, got in at 9am and played at noon. want to do, because we’ve been through that I saw one come up on eBay, I bought them.
We weren’t that excited about that spot, already and, honestly, I make a pretty fucking I use a couple of SGs as well. I have a Gibson
because we thought, ‘Everybody’s hungover. good living writing songs. We’re out here to endorsement, so they give me a couple of
Iron Maiden played the night before. do this for fun. If we were in it for the money, those. Then I use Budda Amps. I’ve been
Everybody was probably hammered drunk…’ we would have quit a long time ago!” using them for about two years. I love their
But we got up there and the stage hands were cabinets and the souped-up heads. I don’t
like, ‘Dude, we’ve never seen so many people So, besides a label, what do you have in even know what the number is, I just turn
here for a noon on Sunday slot!’ There were common with Taylor Swift? that shit up. It’s great, it’s real boxy. Though,
five or six thousand people singing every “She is a sweetheart, by the way. Her and the other night, I ran it through a Marshall
word. It was at that point that we knew I have a lot in common, because she writes a Greenback and it was pretty sick, so I’ve
something was kind of happening over here.” lot herself and I do, too. Most people in started thinking I might have to do that.”
country don’t. Listening to her writing, she’s
You’re signed to Scott Borchetta’s Big putting herself out there. It’s hard to do that, How do you fill in the low end without a
Machine label, home of Taylor Swift. Do you especially as she was 14 when she started up bass player?
think it’s still possible to be outlaw country- all this shit. When I was 14 I was popping “Kelby does it on the lap steel. He runs two
types with that team behind you? zits, running on a skateboard and learning channels and runs it through a frequency
“Well, Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr, how to play drums: I was not together! divider, so one channel’s got a volume pedal
Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, all these “I admire what she’s done and what Scott that goes to a bass amp and then the other
fucking guys had record deals. It’s part of it. and them have built around her. I mean, shit, channel’s got a volume pedal that goes to a
With us, we just have to stand our ground. she sold like 1.3 million copies [of 1989] in Budda. He can run them separately, or if he
the first week – in a world puts them both down, he can run them both
where nobody’s selling at the same time from the lap steel. It just
anything! That’s picks up the bottom two strings for the bass.”
impressive. And, for us,
you want someone behind Whiskey is one of your favourite topics,
you like Scott that’s got lyrically. What are the most memorable
balls and is not afraid to situations that you can attribute to it?
take a chance.” “I’m actually off whiskey right now, because
of situations like that! We go so hard and,
What kind of gear especially now we have a bus in the States,
do you use? you don’t really have to stop partying, so it’s
“I’m really into the tough to put the bottle down. What’s great
Fender Joe Strummer about whiskey is that it was the one thing
Telecasters. I bought five between all three of us guys, wherever we
or six of them and I found were, whether we were in a van with all the
them on eBay and I added gear in the back, freezing cold, sleeping in a
my little Hot Rails pickup Walmart parking lot, or in a huge packed-out
situation to a couple of club, we could all sit down with Jack Daniels
them, which makes them and we’d all be happy for that five minutes!
sound more like an SG. It’s a big thing for us and it’s a Southern
I ran across one and just heritage thing you grow up with. It’s what I
thought, ‘Fuck, that is so drank, it’s what my dad drank. It’s fun to sing
cool-looking…’ That’s about, too, and I only have a couple of tricks!”
Jaren’s a Tele man, what turns you on at first,
owning “five or six”
Joe Strummer Artist so I bought one and Jack Daniels, the fourth member of The
Series guitars played it, and it came Cadillac Three…
with some really hot “Ha! Yeah, The Cadillac Four…”
30 april 2015
speed guide
W
hether you’re into playing practising it at different speeds until 1. Take the benchmark test
tasteful blues or find shredding you’re confident that you’ve it nailed. Start by testing your speed
through 20 notes per second is The next part of the process is to break limits with each initial lick –
more up your street, developing the benchmark lick down into very short use a metronome!
accurate technique and the ability rudimentary practice elements. These
to play comfortably at any given will allow you to really focus in on the 2. Break it down
tempo should be part of every guitarist’s movements your hands are making at a Hone your technique with
practice routine. microscopic level and highlight the small our mini practice exercises
In this lesson, there are five chapters changes that are key to unlocking your in each chapter
to explore, each focusing on an essential inner speed demon.
technique: legato, pentatonic runs, Each chapter ends with more musical 3. p lay it for real
alternate picking, sweep picking and licks that you can add to your arsenal, Try out our blues, rock
tapping. Each chapter begins with a giving you something to play in your own and shred licks featuring
‘benchmark test’. This is the big daddy solos, or when jamming with your band. each technique
of the block and represents the ultimate The three licks are in three styles: blues,
goal, or ‘end of level boss’, of the game rock and shred. You can practise each one 4. Solo time!
– except it’s at the beginning. In fact, over the backing tracks we’ve supplied Link up each genre of
you can keep returning to this lick again and even link up the licks to form one big licks to form a technique-
and again using it as a benchmark by solo incorporating all five techniques. packed solo!
Mechanics of speed
Whatever kind of guitar music you play – blues, rock, Speed training isn’t only for speed gains, though.
metal, funk or fingerstyle – the technicalities of increasing If you’ve ever tried to learn a song but found yourself
playing speed are the same: it boils down to developing making the same mistake in the same place each time,
‘muscle memory’, ie, accurately performing simple speed training might cure your woes. After all, the process
motions again and again until they feel more fluent. of refining your technique applies to both scenarios. In
The simpler the motion, the easier it is to practise and the fact, we’d suggest speed and accuracy are two sides of the
sooner you’ll speed up your playing. same coin. Apply these routines to your own needs.
Step 1 Choose a technical exercise Step 1 Identify technical errors

Pure Choose a short exercise (there are Technical This may be a tricky phrase, string
Speed lots in the following 11 pages) that you
can play without too much difficulty.
improvement shift, position change or stretch.
Regardless, you need to identify
Short, simple phrases are easier to each error you are making and
repeat and learn. work on them one at a time.
Step 2 Find your comfort zone Step 2 Play the phrase slowly
Choose a tempo you can comfortably and cleanly
play the exercise at. You'll need a Find a tempo that you can play the
metronome and you'll need to be phrase at without making mistakes.
realistic with your starting speed so Don’t worry if this is really slow.
there's room for improvement. This is to be expected. Set your
metronome to double time if the
Step 3 Raise the tempo clicks are too far apart.
Play your lick cleanly and accurately
for 60 seconds, then stop and raise Step 3 Raise the tempo, gradually
the tempo of your metronome by Play your lick cleanly and accurately
5bpm. Repeat this step over and for 90 seconds, then stop and raise
again until you reach your limit. the tempo of your metronome by
2 to 3bpm. Repeat this step over
Step 4 Back off the tempo and over until you make a mistake.
Having pushed yourself to
breaking point, back off the Step 4 Go back to the start
tempo. Don’t go back as Begin the process again, starting
far as your comfort zone, with your initial tempo. After a few
just ease off a bit. run throughs, the phrase should
Gradually raise the begin to feel familiar and your base
tempo again, but in speed should start to feel more
1 to 2bpm steps. comfortable to play at.
april 2015 33
up your gato
LeLega to
L
egato is an Italian music term meaning ‘tied
together’, indicating that lines of notes Tempo check…
should have a smoothly connected sound. ➠ Play the benchmark at a tempo you
On the guitar, legato means that notes should be can manage without making mistakes
played with hammer-ons and pull-offs – a great ➠ Use a metronome to keep time and
measure your starting tempo
way to bust out your most rapid licks without the ➠ Follow TG’s benchmark
added pressure of picking at speed. Legato is breakdown exercises
most useful when there are multiple notes on ➠ Try the benchmark again to see how
one or two strings. The technique is almost much you’ve improved
synonymous with Joe Satriani, who explored the
TGR265.coverfeature.fig01.musx Tempos Speed Up Your Lead
Satch’s out-of-this- limits of legato on tracks including Surfing With
File Date: 17:20 16/02/2015world legato skills are The Alien. Players such as Steve Vai and Allan Cover Feature
60-80bpm Novice noodler
honed to perfection 80-100bpm Mid-tempo rocker
Page 1 of 1 Holdsworth are also considered masters. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
100-120bpm Speed demon
Notes: Engraved
120+bpmbyMove
DigitalMusicArt.Com
over Satriani!
track 15
q =120
4 œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ œœœ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~

&4 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ bœ ..
6 6
œ œ œ
~~~~~~~~~
6 6 6 6 6
. .
. .
13 10 12 13 12 10 12 8 10 12 10 8 10 7 8 10 8 7 8 5 7 8 7 5 8 7 5 7 5 5
T TGR265.coverfeature.fig02.musx
8 8 7 8 7 5 8 7 5
8 7 5
A 7
B File Date: 10:04 16/02/2015
Start this Joe Satriani-inspired lick slowly and aim to gradually increase tempo withPage
each practice
1 of 1session. Remember, this exercise is designed to challenge you, so
make sure you persevere, even if your starting tempo is slower than you had hoped. Hone problem areas with the following legato practice exercises.
Notes:
Hammer on then pull off track 16

TG Tips 4
⇥
q = 60
4œ
œ œ œ œ œ
& 4 .. ..
1 3 4 3
1
The key to rock-solid legato skills is making every note
the same tone and volume. Work on fretting finger
strength to make your hammer-ons and pull-offs
TGR265.coverfeature.fig03.musx TGR265.coverfeature.fig04.musx Speed Up Your Lead
Date:and
Filelouder, play picked notes gently to make string
16/02/2015 . 10 16/02/2015
.
Cover Feature
1. of 1 .
17:21 File
T Date:
13 17:22 12 13 10 12
Page 1 ofs1inaudible. Start each exercise slowly

change and play Page
A Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
≥ ≥
to a metronome or drum loop for 30 second s, before B
Notes: Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
increasing your tempo in 5bpm steps. Repeat this small fragment of the benchmark lick and be sure to lift your third
finger at the same time as your fourth finger lands.
Picking volume track 17 Fourth-finger dexterity track 18

œ œ œ œ œ œ 4œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ.
& 44 .. J ‰ J ‰ .. & 44 .. J ..
3 1 3 1
4 4 3 4 3 4 3 4
. . . .
. . . .
7 5 7 5
T 8 8 T 8 7 8 7 8 7 8
© Splash News/Corbis
A A
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤
B B
Repeat this part of the benchmark to make picked notes sound at the same volume Alternate between your third and fourth fingers to develop independence.
as pull-offs. Ideally, you shouldn’t hear the string change. Focus on making all the notes the same volume.
34 april 2015
Kick off your speed routine and develop fret-hand strength
and accuracy to rival the likes of Satriani and Vai
Now’s the time to have some fun with the rock lick is based on four notes per beat,
play
TGR265.coverfeature.fig05.musx
the technique and apply legato to three and finally the challenging shred lick has six Speed Up Your Lead
different styles of music. The licks get
File Date: 17:24 16/02/2015 notes for every beat. The licks are designed Cover Feature
it!
faster, with more notes per beat. The blues to sound musical, so we’ve added other
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
lick is phrased with three notes per beat, ideas such as vibrato and string bends.
Blues lick track 19

q.= 90
12
& 8 1œ œ 4 b œ 1n œ 4 b œ œ œ œ œ nœ bœ œ œ œ bœ nœ bœ œ œ. œ.
1/4
3 3
1/4
T 5 7 8
5
8 7 5 7 8
5
8 7 5 7 8
5
8 7 5
A 7
B
TGR265.coverfeature.fig06.musx Speed Up Your Lead
File Date: 17:24 16/02/2015 Cover Feature
This lick uses the A blues scale (A C D E b E G). Play the three notes on the third string with your first, third and fourth fingers, and the second-string note with your
Page
first finger. Resist the temptation to barre with your first finger; moving from string to string will give you a cleaner sound.
1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
rock lick track 20

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~
#œ œ œ œ œ bœ œ œ ~~~~~~
q =100
& 44 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
3
œ bœ œ œ
8 7 5 7 5 5
~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
T 8 8 7 8 7 5
8 7 5 5
A 7 5 7 7 5
B 7 5 3 7 6 5 3

File Date: 17:26 16/02/2015 b Coverthe
This lick combines the A Dorian scale (A B C D E F# G) with the blues scale to produce a hybrid scale with these notes: A B C D E E F# G. Focus on playing Feature
notes
as evenly
Page 1 ofspaced
1 16th notes, as well as keeping the picked notes and pull-offs at the same volume. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
shred lick track 21

q =110
# # 4 œ 1œ n2œ 4œ 2œ 1œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ n œ~~~~~~~~
& # # 44
6 6 6 6 6 6 6
16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12 16 12 13 16 13 12
~~~~~~~~
T 15
A
B
Learn the first six notes of this lick and repeat them at speed to create the entire lick. Use your first, second and fourth fingers to make the stretch up to the 16th fret
more manageable. After picking the first note, keep the lick going using only your fretting hand.
april 2015 35
PePentntataton runsns
onicicru up your
U
sed in every style of music from blues to
soul and metal, the minor pentatonic Tempo check…
scale is one of the most common scales. ➠ Play the benchmark at a tempo you
Most guitarists know one easy-to-remember can manage without making mistakes
pentatonic scale shape, known as ‘shape one’. ➠ Use a metronome to keep time and
In reality, the minor pentatonic scale can be ➠ Follow TG’s benchmark
found all over the neck. Modern blues-rooted breakdown exercises
players such as Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa ➠ Try the benchmark again to see how
pepper their blistering solos with pentatonic much you’ve improved
runsTGR265.coverfeature.fig08.musx
that cross the entire fretboard. They do this Speed Up Your Lead
by having a framework of connected scale Tempos Get to work on your note
Filethat
shapes Date:
they17:26 16/02/2015
can improvise around using a 60-80bpm Novice noodler Cover Feature
knowledge as you burn up the
80-100bpm Mid-tempo rocker fretboard like Eric Johnson
Page
combination of picking, legato and slides.
1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Notes: 120+bpm Move over Bonamassa! Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
track 22
œ œ œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ~~~~~~~~~œ
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
q =120
4
& 4 .. œ œ œ
5
œ œ ..
œ
œ œ œ œ 5
~~~~~~~~~[ ]
5 5
5 5
. .
. .
8 10 12 10 12 15 12 15 17 15 17 20 17 17
T 5 7 9
8 10 TGR265.coverfeature.fig09.musx
10 13 13 15 15 17
A 5 7
B 3 5
3 5 7 File Date: 17:30 16/02/2015
Page
This lick spans four octaves of the A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G). Bar 1 features 1 offive-note
the same 1 scale fragment played in three different octaves, and is
played with five evenly spaced notes per beat. Remember to check your tempo when you Notes:
start and when you return to measure your progress.
Pentatonic stretch track 23

TG Tips q = 60
You can only play fast when you know where your & 44 .. œ œ
j
œ ‰ œ œ
j
œ ‰
..
fingers should be going, so thinking ahead is of utmost œ œ1 2
1 2
4
œ œ
importance. With a lick such as this, your mind should
be two notes ahead of your fingers, so try to memorise . 11:35 17/02/2015 .
. .
File Date: 11:23 26/02/2015 T Date:
File Cover Feature
the shapes we’ve used. Start each exercise slowly and A
Page 1 ofa1metronome or drum loop for 30 seconds, Page
B 1 of3 1 5 3 5 7 Contributor:
3 5 7 Charlie Griffiths
play to 3 5
Notes:
before increasing your tempo in 5bpm steps. Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Keep your first two fingers as far apart as possible to make stretches more
comfortable. Try not to let your fingers become stuck next to each other.
Position shift track 24 First-finger accuracy track 25

4œ 4œ
© Scott Dudelson / Contributor/ Getty Images
1œ œ 3œ 1œ œ 3œ
1œ 1œ
j j ‰
& 44 .. œ œ œ 1 œ 2 œ ‰ .. 4 . J ‰ J ‰ ..
2 2
œ œ &4 .
1 2 4 œ œ œ
. . . .
. . . .
8 10 12 8 10 12
T T 10 13 10 13
A 5 7 5 7 A
B 3 5 7 3 5 7 B
This is the moment when your hand shifts up the fretboard. Move your hand up Hammer on the first three notes and continue the upward movement so your
two frets and plant your first finger on the fourth string in one smooth motion. first finger arrives naturally at the 10th fret.
36 april 2015
Use pentatonics to move across the fretboard with the
finesse and speed of Eric Johnson and Joe Bonamassa
These three licks will give you some shapes, whereas the rock example takes a
play
different perspectives on applying
TGR265.coverfeature.fig12.musx string skipping approach. Finally, the shred Speed Up Your Lead
pentatonic runs to fast lead playing. The example stays in one fretboard position, Cover Feature
it!
File Date: 10:48 16/02/2015
blues example features an upward sliding but uses a fast descending flurry of notes
Page 1 of 1 sound, which covers five pentatonic scale for an ear-catching cascading effect. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Blues lick track 26
~~~~~~~~~
q.= 90
œ œ œ. œ.
12 œ œ œ œ
j
1/4
&8 . œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ
~~~~~~~~~~ 12 15 15 17 20
1/4
T 7 9 12
10 13 15
A 5 7 10
B 3
5
3 5 7

Play this entire lick using just your first and third fingers – it’s the easiest and quickest way to navigate the notes. String slides (shown with diagonal lines in the
Page
notation
1 ofand
1 tab) are often used in pentatonic licks as a way to make position changes quicker and easier, so we’ve included a few here. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
rock lick track 27
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œ~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
q =100
& 44 ‰ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
j
œ
œ œ
J
3
BU BU BU BD
~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~
15 15 5
T 7 9
10 13
12 14
13 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17 )
(15 ) 13
A 5 7 10 12
B 5 8
7 10

File Date:
Start 11:21
this 16/02/2015
lick with Cover
your first finger at the 5th fret and play the 6th string, then the 4th string, skipping over the 5th string entirely. You can articulate the notesFeature
with
Page
your 1
pick
ofor1you can use hammer-ons. Move up to the 5th string and repeat the shape at the 7th fret, then move up to the 10th fret, adjusting Contributor: Charlie
the shape Griffiths
to fit the scale.
shred lick track 28

q =110
#4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
6 6
œœœœœ œ œ ~~~~~~~~
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
6
& 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ
œ 6
~~~~~~~~
6 6 6
15 12 12
T 15 15 12 15 12
14
12
14 12
15 12
14
12
14 12 14 12 12 14 12 12
A 14 14 12 14 14 12 14 12 12 14 12 12
B 14 14 12 14 14 12 10
This lick is played at a rate of six notes per beat throughout and uses pull-offs for a smooth, fluid sound. Practise the first six notes slowly and notice that it is actually
made up of two smaller three-note phrases. Once you’re comfortable with the opening phrase, the same pattern repeats across all six strings.
april 2015 37
up your Al tern
Alte ckiningg
atee PiPick
rnat
A
lternate picking is one of the simplest
guitar techniques in that it consists of Tempo check…
simply picking down, then up, then ➠ Play the benchmark at a tempo you
down, then up… One of the first picking can manage without making mistakes
monsters was fusion aficionado Al Di Meola, ➠ Use a metronome to keep time and
whose track Race With The Devil On A Spanish ➠ Follow TG’s benchmark
Highway is full of string-melting manoeuvres. breakdown exercises
Since then, Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci and Rusty ➠ Try the benchmark again to see how
Cooley have taken the technique to super- much you’ve improved
TGR265.coverfeature.fig15.musx human levels. The real challenge in alternate Speed Up Your Lead
Your alternate picking
File Date: 11:38 17/02/2015
idol: Paul Gilbert is a picking is changing between strings. The Tempos Cover Feature
machine at this technique difficulty lies in nailing the timing with both your 60-80bpm Novice noodler
Page 1 of 1 Contributor:
80-100bpm Charlie
Mid-tempo Griffiths
rocker
pick and your fretting finger.
120+bpm Move over Paul Gilbert!
track 29
œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
q =120
4 œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. ..
6
œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
6
&4 .
6
œ œ œ œ œ œ
6 6 6 #œ œ œ œ œ ˙
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. 13 10 12 13 12 10 12 9 10 12 10 9 10 7 9 10 9 7 .
. .
T
A 9 TGR265.coverfeature.fig16.musx
6 7 9 7 6
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥
B 8 5 7 8 7 5
7 4 5 7 5 4 5
File Date: 11:40 17/02/2015
This neoclassical lick descends through the A harmonic minor scale, with the notes Page
arranged
1 of in1a six-note pattern that repeats over three octaves. Remember
that you’re measuring your base skill level, so make sure you’re playing cleanly and without any mistakes in either hand.
Notes:
Perfectly-timed down-picking track 30

TG Tips 4
⇤
q = 60
4œ 1œ œ œ œ œ
Hold your pick at an angle to the string so the edge hits &4 .
.
3
J ‰ J ‰ ..
the string. Move from your wrist in a rotational motion
and try not to pick from your thumb or elbow, as these
. .
Fileare harder
Date: to control.
11:41 Remember, your main aim is to
17/02/2015 File Date:
13 11:42
10 17/02/2015 Cover Feature
1. of 1 .
12 13 10 12
Page of 1 fretting finger at exactly the same
land1 your moment T
Page Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
A
that you pick. Play each of these phrases for 30
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
Notes: Notes:
B Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
seconds before attempting to up the tempo.
Focus on timing the down-picks with your fretting finger movements (first with your
fourth finger, then your third). You should play four evenly timed downstrokes.
Up-pick on the beat track 31 String change track 32

⇤ 3
4œ œ ⇤
4 . œ œ ‰ œ œ ‰ .. 4 . œ 1œ œ ‰ œ œ œ ‰ ..
&4 . J J &4 . J J
1 3
4
© C Brandon / Contributor/ Getty Images
. 13 . . 12 .
. . . .
12 10 13 12 10 10 12 10
T T 13 13
A A
≤ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B B
Starting on an upstroke is unusual, but a skill that’s worth developing. Focus on These three notes highlight the moment of string change. There is likely to be
timing – your pick and finger should both arrive at the string simultaneously. a small timing difference between your pick and finger, so practise slowly.
38 april 2015
Master the art of picking in the style of monstrous
players such as Paul Gilbert and John Petrucci
The alternate-picked licks that we’ve downstroke – the rock lick changes string
play
composed below each focus on a different on an upstroke. We complete this set of Speed Up Your Lead
pick-stroke permutation. We start off with
File Date: 11:42 17/02/2015 musical licks with the final shred example, Cover Feature
it!
a two-note-per-string pattern, in which which alternates between downstroke and
each string change is performed with a upstroke string changes.
Blues lick track 33

⇤
q.= 90
œ œ œ œ œ œ
12 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
&8 œ œ œ
20 17 17 15 15 12 12 10 10 8 8 5
T 20 17 17 15 15 13 13 10 10 8 8 5
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ Up ⇥Your Lead
B
TGR265.coverfeature.fig20.musx Speed
This lick uses the notes of the A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G) and is arranged in four-notes-per-scale shapes, moving down the neck after each group of four.
Page
For maximum speed, play the entire lick with your first and third fingers, and sync your third finger with each downstroke in order to lock both hands together. Griffiths
1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie
rock lick track 34

⇤
q =100
œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
4
&4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
15 14 12 12 14 15 14 12 12 14 15 14 12 12 12 12
T 15 15 15 12 13 15 15 13 12 13 15 15 13 12 13 15
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ Speed⇥ Up Your
⇥ Lead
B
You need steady timing for this 16th-note lick. In bar 1, change from the first string to the second with a downstroke followed by an upstroke in an ’inside the strings’
motion. In bar 2, change from the second string to the first with a downstroke followed by an upstroke in an ’outside the strings’ motion.
Charlie Griffiths
shred lick track 35

œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ # œ #œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~
q =110
& 44 œ #œ œ œ
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
~~~~~~~~~
PM throughout
12 13 16 13 12
T 9 10 13
12 13 15 15 13 12
13 10 9
A 9 10 12 12 10 9
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥
B 7 8 10
7 8 11
Starting on a B note, this lick uses a six-note phrase based on the A harmonic minor scale (A B C D E F G#). In bar 1 this follows a two-string fretting pattern, ie, the
six-note shape is repeated on the other string pairs. Target your first finger on the first note of each six-note grouping and keep your pick moving down and up.
april 2015 39
up your
Swee
Sw ckiningg
eepp PiPick
S
weep picking is the opposite of alternate
Tempo check… picking. Rather than moving the pick
➠ Play the benchmark at a tempo you down and up for each note, sweep picking
can manage without making mistakes uses as few pick strokes as possible. Sweep
➠ Use a metronome to keep time and picking is suited to arpeggios that have only one
➠ Follow TG’s benchmark or two notes per string, the idea being to play as
breakdown exercises many strings as possible using one down- or
➠ Try the benchmark again to see how upstroke. Rather than picking multiple strings
much you’ve improved with individual strokes, sweep pickers glide the
TGR265.coverfeature.fig22.musx pick smoothly. Neoclassical players of the 1980s Speed Up Your Lead
Tempos used sweeping to mimic violin players such as
File Date:
60-80bpm 11:46
Novice 17/02/2015
noodler Cover Feature
Yngwie unleashes the
Nicolò Paganini – Yngwie Malmsteen’s track sweep picking fury on
Page 1 of
80-100bpm Mid-tempo
1 rocker
Demon Driver is a prime example. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
his scallope
100-120bpm Speed demon d fretboard
Notes:Move over Malmsteen!
120+bpm Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Benchmark Test track 36

⇤
œ 1œ œ 4 b œ 1 œ 3œ 4 œ 3 œ 1 œ œ 1 œ 2 œ 3 œ 2 œ 1 œ œ~~~~~
q =120 6
& 44 .. œ 3œ 3 œ œ Ó. ..
4 3 2
œ 4œ œ
œ 4œ 3 3
2
1
2
6
~~~~~
1 6
6
. .
. .
17 12 12 16 13 13 19 16 16 17
T 13 13 15 15 18 18
A 14
14 14
14 TGR265.coverfeature.fig23.musx
16 19
≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ Page
⇥ ⇥1 of⇥1 ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤
B 15 12 15
File Date: 11:54 16/02/2015
Start the initial five-string arpeggio with an upstroke, followed by a pull-off, then four more upstrokes. This should all be done with one continuous upward motion,
Notes:
and not five separate upstrokes. Remember, this is a benchmark test, so it is vital that you are playing cleanly and accurately at a tempo you can manage.
Two-string sweep
TG Tips ⇤
q = 60
track 37
4 . ..
The secret to good sweep picking is not in your picking &4 . œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
hand, but in your fretting hand. Muting the strings
you're not playing is essential to a clean-sounding
Date: ue.
Filetechniq Slow practice is another good way to
. 14 1 .
11:46 17/02/2015 File Date: 11:47 17/02/2015 Cover Feature
but only if the movements you're
. .
accurac y, T
Page
develop
Page 1 of 1 A 1 of 14 14
Contributor: Charlie
14
Griffiths
practising are exactly the same as the fast version, so
14 14 14 14
≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥
Notes: Notes:
B
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
pay close attention to what your hands are doing.
Barre across both strings with your third finger and roll your finger pad back and
forth, applying pressure to the relevant string and muting the unwanted one.
Pull-off and sweep Three-string sweep

⇥ track 38 ⇥ œ œ
track 39
# œ œ œ œ 4 . œ œ ..
& 44 .. œ
J ‰ œ
J ‰ .. &4 . œ J ‰ œ J ‰
© Brian Hineline/Retna Ltd./Corbis
. 16 . . 16 .
. .
13 13
T
. .
13 16 13 15 15
T 15 15
A 16
A
≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥ ≥
B
≤ ≤ ≤ ≤
B
Play the first and third notes with upstrokes and incorporate the pull-off as naturally Glide your pick across the strings in one smooth movement and let the tip hit the
as possible. This should feel like one continuous motion rather than three movements. strings. Only one fretting finger should be in contact with the fretboard at any time.
40 april 2015
Mimic the incredible lines of great speed maestros
such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Jason Becker
These sweep picking licks show that is that the pick should take the shortest
play
the technique can be applied to bluesy possible route between two strings. The
pentatonic scales as well as to more
File Date: 12:06 16/02/2015 technique can often be heard being used Cover Feature
it!
Page 1 of 1 typical neo-classical shred-style arpeggio in conjunction with two-note-per-string Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Notes: playing. In all cases, the rule of thumb here pull-off phrases. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Blues lick track 40

q.= 90
œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w.
4:3
&8 œ œ œ œ œ
j
4:3
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4:3
4:3
8 5
T 8 5 8
7 5
5
7 5
A 7 5 7 5 5 7
≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤
B 7 5

This lick descends through the A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G) in 4th intervals by using two-string upward and downward sweeps. When playing two
consecutive notes on the same fret, keep the notes separated by rolling your finger across the strings as your pick glides across them. Charlie Griffiths
rock lick track 41

⇤
œ~~~~~
q =100
œ œ
4
&4 œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ
~~~~~
6 6 6
BU
15 12 12 14 12 12 15 12 15 12 12 14 12 12 15 12 12 14 (15 )
T 13
14
13 13
14
13 13
14
13
14
13 13
14
13 13
14
13
A
≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤
B
Focus on the first and fourth notes of the arpeggio (these are the notes where you change picking direction) and ensure that your pick is moving up then down with a
Page
smooth
1 ofgliding
1 motion in between. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
shred lick track 42

⇤
q =110
# # nœ œ œ nœ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& # # 44 n œ œ œ n œ n œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
10 7 7 13 10 10 16 13 13 19 16 16
T 9
10 7 10
9 12
13 10 13
12 15
16 13 16
15 18
19 16 19
18
A
≤ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ≤ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
This lick uses roughly the same picking approach as the rock lick, but this time we’ve added some position shifts by sliding up the neck. The diminished arpeggio
shape used here can be moved up and down the neck three frets at a time.
april 2015 41
up your TaTappppiningg
T
wo-handed tapping is essentially an
extension of legato. You’re most likely Tempo check…
used to playing hammer-ons and pull-offs ➠ Play the benchmark at a tempo you
with your fretting hand, but notes can easily be can manage without making mistakes
added with the first or second fingers of your ➠ Use a metronome to keep time and
picking hand (known as a ‘tap’). Once you get ➠ Follow TG’s benchmark
past the hurdle of co-ordinating both hands, breakdown exercises
tapping is a reasonably easy way to play fast, ➠ Try the benchmark again to see how
slick-sounding licks. Eddie Van Halen changed much you’ve improved
TGR265.coverfeature.fig29.musx the face of rock guitar in the 80s with his solos on Speed Up Your Lead
Eddie set the tapping
File Date: 11:48 17/02/2015 songs such as Eruption and Hot For Teacher, and Tempos Cover Feature
bar with 1978’s epic 60-80bpm Novice noodler
players such as Bumblefoot continue to push the
PageEruption
instrumental, 1 of 1 Contributor:
80-100bpm Charlie
Mid-tempo Griffiths
rocker
technique – as heard on his track Guitars Suck. 100-120bpm Speed demon
120+bpm Move over Eddie!
track 43
œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ #œ œb œ œ œ œ
q =120
& 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ
6
..
6
œ œœ œ œ œ
5 5 6 œ
5 6
. .
. .
12 8 7 5
T 8 12 8 7 5
8 12 8 7 5 TGR265.coverfeature.fig30.musx
5
12 7 5
8 12 8 5
A 75 712 7 125 0 12 7 5
B File Date: 11:48 17/02/2015 12 7 5
12 8 5 8
Page
Start by tapping the 12th fret with the first or second finger of your picking hand, then 1 of
perform 1 pull-offs with your fret hand. Next, use your fourth finger to
three
Notes:
hammer on to the 8th fret on the second string, then repeat the process again on the second and third strings. Aim for clean, steady playing at a manageable tempo.
Tap and pull-off track 44

TG Tips œ
q = 60
œ
& 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ ..
4
The secret to good tapping is fret-hand string muting.
3
1
Keeping the idle strings quiet is essential to a clean,

controlled technique. Get it right and tapped licks sound TGR265.coverfeature.fig32.musx
. .
awesome. When using your fretting fingers to tap or
. .
12 8 7 5 12 8 7 5
File Date: 13:29 17/02/2015
T Cover Feature
File Date: 11:50you
hammer on, can mute the adjacent higher string
17/02/2015
A
Pagewith the underside of your fretting fingers and the
1 of 1 Page
B 1 of 1 Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
adjacent lower string with your fingertips.
Notes: Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Repeat the first four notes and listen carefully to the sound of both taps and
pull-offs. All the notes should be the same volume and intensity throughout.
Two-handed tap and string change track 45 String muting track 46
& 44 .. œ œ œ œJ ‰ œ œ œ œ ‰ .. & 42 .. œ œ ..
3 3 3
œ œ
3
3
J 1
œ 4 4
1
œ
1 4
. . . .
. . . 12 .
7 5 7 5
T 8 12 8 12 T 5 8 12 8 5
© Brian Rasic/REX
A A
B B
This is the ‘Van Halen’ string change, which is led with a fret-hand tap (shown as The challenge here is muting idle strings. Keep the treble strings muted with the
a squared note). This is sometimes called a ‘hammer-on from nowhere’. underside and tips of your fretting fingers and the bass strings with your tapping hand.
42 april 2015
Tap into the two-handed techniques of Eddie Van Halen
and Buckethead with this easy speed technique
These three licks will give you some shapes, whereas the rock example takes a
play
different perspectives on applying
TGR265.coverfeature.fig33.musx string skipping approach. Finally, the shred Speed Up Your Lead
pentatonic runs to fast lead playing. The example stays in one fretboard position, Cover Feature
it!
File Date: 12:49 16/02/2015
blues example features an upward sliding but uses a fast descending flurry of notes
Page 1 of 1 sound, which covers five pentatonic scale for an ear-catching cascading effect. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
Blues lick track 47

q.= 90
12 b œ œ b œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .. ˙
& 8 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . Ó.
. .
. .
T 16 15 13 15 13 15 16 15 13 15 13 15 16 15 13 15 13 15 16 15 13 15 13 15 16 15 13 15 13 15 16 15 13 15 13 15
14
A
B
Use
File the first
Date: 11:52and third fingers of your fretting hand to hammer on and pull off at the 13th and 15th frets. In between the fretting-hand notes, use yourCover
17/02/2015 Feature
picking hand to
tap the 16th fret, then the 15th fret for a cool bluesy sound. We’ve used the A blues scale (A C D E b E G) for this lick.
rock lick track 48
œ œ œ œ
Play 4 times
q =100 6 6
& 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ
œ
œ œ .. œœ Ó.
œ
j
œ
œ
6 6
. .
. .
17 8 5 17 8 5 17 8 5 17 8 5 5
T 17 8 5 17 8 5
17 7 5
17 8 5 8 (10 )
A BU
B
For this lick, you’ll be playing shape one of the A minor pentatonic scale with your fret hand, which is a bit like a two-note-per-string pull-off lick. Instead of picking
Page
the first
1 ofnote,
1 use your picking hand to tap the 17th fret an octave above your first finger. Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
shred lick track 49

nœ œ œ œ œ
œ n œ nœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ nœ œn œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ .
q =110
##
& # # 44 .. œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œ œ. œ Œ Ó
6 6 6 6
6 6 6 6
. .
. .
22 16 19 22 16 19 22 16 19 22 16 19 19 13 16 19 13 16 19 13 16 19 13 16
T 22 16 19 22 16 19 22 16 19 22 16 19 19 13 16 19 13 16 19 13 16 19 13 16
A 14
B
This lick has a similar format to the rock lick: play two notes with your fretting hand and one tapped note with your picking hand. This time, however, the two
fretting-hand notes are played as a hammer-on and there is the extra challenge of skipping over the second string.
april 2015 43
Backing tracks
Put everything you’ve learned
to the test with our join-’em-up
solos and backing tracks
N
ow is your opportunity to test drive your technical
skills in a more creative way, by playing over three
backing tracks – one for each style to practise over.
You can play the rock, blues and shred licks from the
previous section as they’re tabbed, or change the notes or
rhythmic phrasing to make them your own. This is how
you can start to develop your own sound.
As a final fun challenge, you can string together the
five licks from each genre to form a complete solo using
all of the techniques. For each style, start with the legato Speed Up Your Lead
lick, then
File Date: 11:53
play the pentatonic
17/02/2015 run, alternate picking, Cover Feature
sweep picking
Page 1 of 1 and finish with the tapping lick. This will
help you get used to switching between techniques up your Contributor: Charlie Griffiths
without stopping – quite a challenge! The idea is to link
each lick smoothly with the next without hesitation.
Blues track tracks 50-51

q.= 90
12
8 .. A7 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ D7 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
1
A7 ’ ’ ’
’ ’ ’ ’ E7 ’ ’ ’ D7 ’ ’ ’ A7 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ E7 ’ ..
Speed Up Your Lead
7

This backing track is in a 12-bar blues format in the key of A. The three chords – A7, D7 and E7 are a typical I-IV-V chord movement that is present in 90 per cent of
Notes:
blues tunes, so it is well worth practising over. You can play the A minor pentatonic scale (A C D E G) over the entire 12 bars and itEngraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
will sound great!
Rock track tracks 52-53

44 .. A 5
’ Lead..
q =100
’ ’ ’
TGR265.coverfeature.fig38.musx ’ ’ G D A5 ’ ’ ’ G ’Speed # Your
D/FUp
File1 Date: 13:56 16/02/2015 Cover Feature
Notes: Engraved
Here, the backing track has a classic-rock flavour and has the tonal centre of A. The A G D progression is compatible with a few by DigitalMusicArt.Com
scales: A Mixolydian (A B C# D E F# G),
A Dorian (A B C D E F# G) and A blues scale (A C D E b G). The five licks use a combination of notes from all of those scales.
Shred track tracks 54-55

4 .. ..
q =110
4 E5 ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ G#5 F5
1
This backing track uses only three simple powerchords: E5, G#5 and F5. The most suitable scale for this progression is E Phrygian Dominant (E F G# A B C D), which
has an exotic flavour and is used by players such as Yngwie Malmsteen and Jason Becker.
44 april 2015
46
The Best Of Al
april 2015
interview Alain Johannes
record. Everybody has a very particular way, be objective about it. There
their own way, of playing the guitar, and it were a couple of moments
becomes extremely difficult to be able to where you just felt the
match that because it’s not your natural feel. power, and how easy it
So, even though it might seem simple in terms was for us to just tune in
of what it is – it’s all just strumming different and transcend and just
chords – the particular way is so important to be in this incredible kind
the song. of a group mind. Moving
“It would take a second to adapt a different like a single beast. Coming
feel, and it eventually becomes your own. from, in some ways, very
Live, Chris wasn’t playing guitar on that disparate vantage points,
Euphoria Morning tour; I was playing the and yet at the same time
guitar, so one song in particular, Moonchild, it’s everybody always having
always constantly moving and arpeggioing – music as the primary Alain has become one of
live, I would always look at the setlist and go, reason why they exist; Josh Homme’s most
‘Oh God, here it comes!’ Gotta keep the it’s the thing they love the trusted collaborators
pre-show wine to a minimum, for sure!” most and communicate
the clearest and the
best in.”
The fourth Vulture
© Tamarind Free Jones C Brandon / Contributor Joby Sessions Mitch Haddad / Getty Images Philip Brown/REX © Steve Appleford/Corbis
easy to carry, it sounded really full and
aul is
“After a while, you run out of places to pinch amazing, and the songs flew out of it. [Alain’s
“My tech goes, ‘Sir hPawk’”

on your body. One second, I’m on first solo album, Spark] wouldn’t have been
stage with John Paul Jones – and the same if it wasn’t that guitar; there was
watching you like a

I grew up with Led Zeppelin and something about the directness of the cigar
looked up to him so much as an box guitar and the way that it has a sound
incredible musician, arranger and which matches other instruments – it can be
just badass in general – and the very percussive like a flamenco guitar, so it
next thing you know, there I am on stage in almost has a folky, Eastern, exotic aspect,
London, and my guitar tech, Ally Christie, and yet it’s very much a blues instrument.
goes, ‘Sir Paul [McCartney] is watching you It became the vehicle through which the songs
like a hawk’, and I’m like, ‘Oh God, don’t say could be expressed.”
that to me right now!’
“And then after the show, Paul McCartney
stops me as I’m walking by, and he goes, writing his new album
‘I don’t understand; it’s billed as three, but “For Fragments And Wholes, Vol 1, I was taking
I see four – and what a mighty fourth you from little improvisations that I posted on my
are!’ That’s a dream for me: growing up, Instagram; I’ve got maybe about 70 of them.
I used to make my mum get me the singles as Then, when I had a window, I would just pick
they were coming out. The Beatles were one of the fragments and then just start
everything for me. And so there [Sir Paul] is, finishing it. So, it was one song per day –
watching me and giving me kudos. It couldn’t anywhere between one and two hours to just
have been more of a dream come true.” hash it out in my mind, where I’d write the
“I think some of our best Al’s a big fan of the cigar lyrics, figure out the instrumentation, then
shows definitely rival box guitar, and it’s been a perform it, then go on a quick break and mix it
big part of his solo work
some of the best live when I get back, and then move onto the next
music that’s ever one the next day. I wanted the process to be
happened, and I’m really fresh and really quick, and not to
not just saying that over-think anything.”
because I was part
of it. I’m just
trying to Cigar box of tricks
“I’d had the [cigar box] guitar for
many years, even on Eleven’s last
album, Howling Book [2003] –
[luthier] Matty Baratto had made my
first four-string one that I gave to Brody.
Then I had an eight-string one, but when
Natasha [Shneider, Alain’s partner in life
and in Eleven] passed away, lots turned
up: Josh had asked me to engineer the
Arctic Monkeys record [Humbug] and be
part of the Crooked Vultures recording,
and then join the live band.
“So, I had that instrument with me, and
on the surface, it got me started – it was Alain and his partner
Natasha were key members
in the 2005 QOTSA line-up
Alain Johannes interview
Go-to gear Making your Mark

We need to talk
about Alain
“I still play my Jazzmaster that I’ve had “Mark [Lanegan] likes to move fast. He
since I was 16, which I used in Vultures, comes with a song, and he plays it on
and used in What Is This? and Eleven – acoustic and sings it, and he has a very
that’s my go-to. The factory stamp on it clear idea of what he wants. And so he Al's musician pals just can't give
is my birthday and year, which describes it to me, whether it’s directly or him enough praise
I discovered later – so it was invariably indirectly, and then we start recording the
going to end up in my hands! I haven’t song. And somehow, about two or three Jim Adkins, Jimmy Eat
World: “Al’s house is like
done any mods, except I stuck some old hours into the process, sometimes less, the
a museum of
Gibson humbuckers in, and I used the old bed of the song is there, and then he sings instruments from around
Jazzmaster pickup covers as the pickup it and he kills it, and then maybe it’s done the world, and he can
mounts so that I wouldn’t have to rout or maybe it needs a couple of touches. pick up any of them and
or change anything. It still retains the “Mark’s really helped me, because he’s just shred. Effortlessly. Al
brings to the table a lot of musicianship. And
Jazzmaster-y sound; but for my purposes, pushed me to deliver in the moment. to some degree you’re born with it, or he at
I need it to be a little bit heavier – and There’s a combination of what I imagine least makes it seem like he was, because it’s
you know how it is with those Jazzmaster the song needs, and what he imagines it natural for him.”
pickups: they sound incredible, but if the needs. Then, over the years, it’s getting
stage or lights are wired funny, you’re closer and closer so our shorthand is on Brody Dalle: “Al is a
genius. He’s got an
gonna get quite a racket going.” a very high level; when you understand incredible ear. He writes
“I always go back to Fender amps, but each other, things don’t take that long.” the coolest, most
lately I’ve had a Greedtone [JHI-100]; this jaw-dropping parts.
guy [Greg Williamson] in Seattle makes There’s nobody like
them, and they’re absolutely brilliant. Who’s next Alain; there’s not a
person I’ve ever seen that stands up to the
It’s super-open, very clean; the wiring is “There’s this band that Matt Cameron, way that he plays, besides my husband. He’s
super-clean and high-end, and it’s very Ben Shepherd, Dimitri [Coats, Burning probably the most talented musician on the
dynamic and reacts to your playing. I love Brides] and I have. I sang on a bunch [of planet. The things that he can do, it’s just out
that amp, so I’ve been using that the past tracks], Dimitri sang, Lanegan’s on a tune, of control. He can play any style and it’s not
bullshit; it’s real.”
few years a lot. In a pinch, if I’m going and then Chris [Cornell], hopefully, will
somewhere and I don’t have my amps sing. It has no name yet. I went to stay
Josh Homme, Queens Of
with me, I’ll get a Twin and a Bassman, with Matt for two weeks in December The Stone Age: “Al is
and be good to go.” 2008 after Natasha passed away, and the only rock guy I know
“In the 80s, there

that’s when we did the original sessions. who plays with Django
Matt, Ben and I would go to the Pearl Jam Reinhardt-style
inflections; he's the best
space and we laid down 10 songs, half
was a period when

guitar player in our band.”
with vocals, half without. And then we
finally got around everyone’s schedules to Mark Lanegan: “Alain is
I did a lot of
recording them last year, so now we’ve got the most creative,
10 or 12, and we’re gonna get to finish it talented, soulful, poetic,
weirdo solo guitar”

up and put it out this year.” magical and nicest person
I've ever known. He makes
“I’m thinking volume two [of Fragments my life so much better by
And Wholes] will have a few more people being part of it.”
involved: Chris, Lanegan, Josh, Brody –
who knows? I’d love to concentrate on
putting out more music and not wait as Weird Al
long in between. I’m toying with the idea “There was a period in the 80s when
of doing a live-ish bluesy-type record with I did a lot of weirdo solo guitar – if they
just voice and resonator, too. I like that couldn’t get Adrian Belew or Robert Fripp:
feeling of having a loose framework and ‘Why don’t you call Al? He’s here and he’s
then just improvising – I love just being cheap!’ [laughs] Someone would have a
on the edge of that.” dance remix or something of some track,
and they’re like, ‘After the second chorus,
I need something to come in and go
Al’s new band: (l-r) Matt ‘Woorp tic waarb brrrp dndndn!’ ‘Call
Al’s trusty Jazzmaster was Cameron, Dimitri Coats, Al; he can do it!’ and I’d go in and make
produced on the day he was Al, and Ben Shepherd
$800 and do two takes and go home.
born – it was meant to be!
“Everything lands in my lap. I don’t
really advertise; things just come my
© Jeff Kravitz / Contributor Adam Gasson
way, and if I think I can be of help or

I can contribute in a positive manner
then I’ll just pursue it. But for the most
part, everything just kind of shows up;
you never know what can happen.”
Alain Johannes’s new album, Fragments

And Wholes, Vol 1, is out now.
april 2015 49
TG rounds up three of the
finest metal guitarists
around today – Marty
Friedman, Michael Amott
and Jeff Loomis – to find
out their thoughts on the
state of metal lead playing
in 2015
Metal Virtuosos
round table:
Words: Amit Sharma Photography: Joby Sessions
round table
metal virtuosos
video
w w w.bit .ly/
tg265metal
april 2015 51
round table
metal virtuosos
S
hred. It’s a double-edged sword of sorts.
On one hand, you think of the greats
who took music to its furthest limits,
and on the other those YouTube ‘shreds’
videos ripping those who dared to take
themselves so seriously. Three players who have
long proved to be doing it right are ex-Megadeth
gunslinger Marty Friedman, Arch Enemy legend
Michael Amott, and former Nevermore axeman
Jeff Loomis, who has recently signed up to co-
handle guitars on Arch Enemy’s live dates. We
sat down with the metal masters to find out why
there’s more to music than just playing fast…
Our shred legends tell TG why
Can you tell us more about I turned up they weren’t they hate the word shred and
the shared history between aware of how young I prefer music without guitars…
you three – how long have you was, which was about 16.
all known each other? So they said, ‘Thanks for
Marty: “We literally coming, but you’re too young personality. I went round his What are your thoughts on
just met! But me and and too green. You don’t house, we had a jam, drank a shred guitar playing in 2015?
Michael worked belong in this band.’” lot of coffee and decided right Is it in a good place?
together on a project a few Marty: “Bummer, dude!” there and then. Third time Marty: “I wanna just go on
years ago, that’s how we first lucky! I think we’d both like to record and say I fuckin’ hate
got talking. Of course, I’ve What elements of style and continue working together, it’d that word [laughs]! Can I get
heard Arch Enemy and read technique do you admire in be a lot of fun. I want this to be a witness from you guys?”
about them.” each other’s playing? it, really.” Jeff: “Yes! The whole melting
Michael: “If I’m Marty: “I was just listening
remembering to Arch Enemy’s War Eternal
correctly, I wrote earlier. It’s all about the touch
the song, you produced it and and that real metal tone.
donated a solo, and a Japanese If you want an example of
band played it!” modern metal guitar playing,
Jeff: “With Michael, just go there! It’s something
we met about 15 you really can’t fake. Michael
years ago at a festival oozes metal.”
that both Arch Enemy and Jeff: “I’ve been a fan of
Nevermore were playing. So Arch Enemy since the very
quite a history there! And I met beginning, so playing in the
Marty once in 1988 when he band has been great. I love
played at The Thirsty Whale Michael’s music – he’s got
in Chicago…” awesome feel and is a brilliant
Marty: “You were at that show riff writer. So I’m really happy
in Chicago?” to be here. And as for Marty,
Jeff: “Yeah! I said hi briefly, but I just can’t say enough about
it was a long time ago now. his playing…”
I was actually on my way
back from auditioning for So what are the chances of
Megadeth…” Jeff joining Arch Enemy on a
Marty: “You auditioned for permanent basis, Michael?
Megadeth? No kidding! When Michael: “I’m trying to
was that?” make him sign a big 20-year
Jeff: “Yeah! Then two weeks contract [laughs]! I’ve actually
later you were in the band.” asked him twice before, but
Marty: “That’s crazy! I don’t he turned me down due to
think I even knew about it at other commitments. I love
that point.” Nevermore, so I knew how
Jeff: “I sent an audition tape talented he was. But it’s not Marty displays his
and they loved it. But when just about that, he’s a great loyalty in the great KISS
vs Aerosmith debate
52 april 2015
round table
metal virtuosos
interesting to say. I can “When I grew up, shred meant

tell even with me – if I’m
nervous or don’t really ‘guys who sucked’. You play fast
know what I’m doing,
I just play fast. It has
when you have nothing to say”
nothing to do with music,
it’s shredded cheese,
marty friedman
man! A lot of people
reading guitar mags will
get annoyed about not Cacophony riffs for me, they of the year with just my
being able to play as fast were sick!” preamp and my guitars. I just
as their heroes, but after a Marty: “Hearing that makes want something simple to get
few years anyone can play me feel really good. I think the my sound out of, especially
fast. Once you’ve learned reason it appealed, if I may say, with rental backlines. We
the motor skills, you need was because the content was tour all the continents and
to find something to say.” really interesting. It was stuff don’t always ship our own
that on the surface might feel equipment. In places like Latin
So it definitely comes like wanking – and there was America, you never know
down to how you use plenty of wanking on there – what’s in store for you there.
technique rather than but the content was enough to I like consistency, so I get that
just ripping scales make people find something through a digital preamp.
at 400bpm? beyond speed: not just playing I don’t have the patience to
Michael: “In metal, two exercises fast. Not that many program 99 different things.
faces shred thing is so over- of my favourite bands are people listened to it, anyway… I have just five main tones and
used. Is that where guitar has Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. that’s why we dressed up the rest comes down to how
gone? The shred factor? But the guitar players in those like Poison!” I play. I hear my guitar tech
I myself have tried to stay bands aren’t really the best in Jeff: “Music is the ultimate line-checking my guitar and
diverse in what I listen to.” the world, or even what I’d call way of expressing yourself. think, ‘Holy shit, it doesn’t
Marty: “It seems there’s shredders. They just play great Each guitar player I like has sound that great today’ and
more of an interest in guitar, songs with great solos and the tools to do what they want, then I play and it’s fine!”
more than there was eight great melodies. That’s where and it’s all about how they Marty: “It’s the other way
years ago. If that brings more I see Arch Enemy – instead of utilise those tools.” round for me – my tech plays
attention to us or guitar music, being a circus or a freak show, and it’s fine, then I do and it
or rock, call it whatever you it’s about the songs. When How have your rigs and sounds shit [laughs]!”
want, that’s good. But when I was younger, I bought Marty’s approach to tone changed Jeff: “I keep it simple – just a
I grew up, shred meant ‘guys Cacophony albums, Jason over the years? clean, rhythm and solo sound.
who sucked’. I was always Becker’s Perpetual Burn, Racer Michael: “I like
of the mindset that you play X… the extremity factor really a simple setup,
fast when you have nothing appealed to me. It was those really. I tour most
Having lured Jeff to

Arch Enemy, Michael is
hoping he’ll stick around
© Brigitte Engl/Redferns
Michael with his

Dean Michael Amott
signature model
april 2015 53
round table
metal virtuosos
Marty with Megadeth,

after a teenage Jeff had
auditioned for the gig
“I don’t like tweaking tones. I’d rather

sit around reading Viz, or whatever, sound shit
and now you
than be dialling in!” can’t even tell
the difference.”
marty friedman Marty: “I use Marty’s very
happy with
Engls and they
his custom PRS
have a lot of
I use Kemper stuff now: there’s that had that classic setup. models, which
a bunch of heads I have at But what would Hendrix be all sound good
home, which I profile. They’re playing if he was still around to me. Whatever they send is describe them, what they do
all in there, it’s a little lunchbox today? I don’t think he’d fine – I don’t even know which sounds really new and fresh.
of different flavours. I used to be playing Marshalls, who it’ll be sometimes. I don’t like When you hear Keshav’s
be old-school and just plug into knows? That was the latest tweaking tones, that’s the last playing, there are so many
any head, but now I’ve refined development back then. Now thing I want to do with my life. beautiful nuances and so much
my tone. And because it’s probably some software. I’d rather sit around reading conviction. He nails it so hard
I usually run direct, it’s very People are very forward- Viz, or whatever, than be that it’s his thing. He’s gonna
consistent each night. There’s thinking and experimental, dialling in!” be a huge star.”
no backwash from any cabs.” people utilise technology. I’m Jeff: “I really like Nick
traditional in my approach Are there any new players Johnston, a Canadian blues-
Are you surprised by how far but open to new things. It’s out there that have rock player. He has a couple of
digital modelling technology a constant thing with guitar impressed you? instrumental albums out and
has come in the last decade? players, always on the search! Marty: “I have a buddy called they sound killer.”
Michael: “We all idolise the In the last few years, modelling Keshav Dhar, from a band Michael: “I don’t spend much
guys that came before us, technology like Kemper called Skyharbor, he’s worked time listening to electric guitar
has become a lot more on two my of my albums. music because I’m always
advanced. It used to Ambitious is a good word to playing it. I almost find it more
relaxing if there is no guitar
player involved, ’cos otherwise
I sit there thinking, ‘Oh, his
vibrato sucks’, or ‘Those boring
licks again!’”
So there’s an escapism
in listening to guitar-free
music, in a way?
Marty: “You don’t want to
do it, but you always end
© Mick Hutson/Redferns Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns
up judging the guy, and

sometimes I don’t want
anything to judge!”
Jeff: “Sometimes, I prefer
listening to music with no
guitar in it, like Public Enemy,
or Daft Punk. I like Goldfrapp,
an English electronic group
Jeff and Schecter have a
long relationship and are with this new-age sound.
working on a new model I love Olivia Newton John!
54 april 2015
round table
metal virtuosos
Follow The Leaders

Marty, Michael and Jeff on the guitar players who changed their lives
Marty: “I’d definitely have to say Jason me for his sense of melody and
Becker because of his playing, and he’s harmonies. He’s such an amazing
also my best friend! Any time I run into individual with such identifiable style.
a problem, I think ‘what would Jason do?’ When you hear his playing, you know
and then I’m okay! Once you’ve been immediately it’s him.”
playing music for a while, it’s not like
there’s this one idol who’s your constant Michael: “I’ve taken a lot of influence
source of inspiration. But when I was a from a certain era of Michael Schenker.
kid it was all about Ace Frehley, Paul From about ’74 to ’84 with UFO, as well
Stanley, Tony Iommi, Johnny Ramone…” as his solo stuff. He’s a very expressive
player with a lot of emotion. And he
Jeff: “I’d say Ace Frehley for non-musical plays mainly pentatonic, but it’s really
reasons! He was so iconic: his stage inventive and doesn’t sound like blues.
presence was really hair-raising and There’s something about Schenker’s
scary. Brian May is a huge influence on playing that just pleases my ear!”
And there’s no such thing as Michael: “I have my signature

a bad ABBA song…” Dean guitar, as well as my own
Michael: “ABBA are one of my signature Rotosound strings.
favourite bands of all time. That’s about it for me, too! I’m
Next to Black Sabbath!” not that big on endorsements
Marty: “When I was in anymore, it’s like adding
Megadeth, there was an relationships you have to
English band called Republica maintain. Once you sign up, Don’t let Jeff hear
that I really liked. I said that you owe them and have to you dissing
in an interview once and the give something back. Which Dancing Queen…
record company were like, can be difficult when you tour
‘Dude, they’re not cool, don’t
mention that again!’ I’m not
as much we do. For me, I use
the gear on the road and in
“I love Olivia Newton John!
afraid of anything, I’m the
biggest Britney Spears fan in
the studio, and think that’s
probably the best promotion
And there’s no such thing as a
the world, and I play with pop
idols all the time in Japan.
you can give any company!”
Jeff: “I’ve been working with
bad ABBA song…”
I couldn’t care less what Schecter guitars for about Jeff Loomis
anyone thinks!” eight years. I have my own
seven-string model with them,
You all play signature model and we’re just about to release Are guitar players guilty of Michael: “It’s the same with
guitars. Is there anything else a six-string version. It’s an being more judgemental than reviews. I don’t read them,
you’d like to release? awesome guitar! I absolutely other musicians? especially now there’s so much
Marty: “I have my PRS love working with them, we Marty: “There’s no competition online. If the label says it’s
signature model, it’s gorgeous have a great relationship in the real world of playing looking good, then great. But
and all I need. So that’s it for and the instruments are music. That’s simply in the minds I don’t need to hear it’s good…
me with signature stuff.” affordable, too.” of young people starting to I know it’s good!”
learn the instrument. Jeff: “The internet has gotten a
Guitarists should lot more negative over the last
Marty recounts his top admire each other’s five years, from what I’ve seen.
Profanisaurus entries work, even if we don’t People in the metal community
from this week’s Viz like the music, because used to be really supportive,
we’re all doing the and it’s become a competition,
same job. People that a big pissing contest!”
say negative things are Marty: “But I guess we were
wasting time when they all like that when we were 14.
should be focusing on You’d be like, ‘Fuck you! KISS
their own abilities. is better than Aerosmith!’ with
“I think the best thing all your friends. So in some
you can do is to just stay respect, some things haven’t
off the internet! I’ve changed. But the difference
realised there was no is that musicians shouldn’t be
purpose in reading that exposed. It’s not information
stuff, especially with that we need to know, or
the guys that wank you anything that will benefit us in
off constantly.” any way.”
april 2015 55
STEAL THEIR STYLE
Mark
Knopfler
The techniques and
tones of your heroes
When Mark Knopfler was
growing up, every kid
wanted an electric guitar. Few owned
one. The older kids at his school tried
building their own in woodwork classes,
and they all aspired to one design: the
Fender Stratocaster. Knopfler also wanted
one, and he wanted a Fiesta Red Strat like
The Shadows’ Hank Marvin had. His first
electric was a 1962 Hofner Super Solid
– in red. By 1978, Dire Straits were ready
to record their debut LP and Knopfler
finally owned a ’61 Strat. More
importantly, he had a style all of his own.
There is a quiet magic to Mark
Knopfler. His playing is approachable and
accessible, familiar but somehow out of
reach. You can hear The Shadows,
JJ Cale, BB King and Chet Atkins in his
playing, yet Knopfler’s sound and style is
unmistakably his own. He is truly an
auteur of tone. Few guitarists make better
note choices, few phrase a lick better.
Eschewing a pick, Knopfler pinches at his
strings, rolling back and forth on his
volume pedal, and is in full control of his
instrument’s range. He has used a Gretsch
© Peter Still/Redferns
Chet Atkins, Gibson Les Pauls, Teles and

his Pensa MKs, but he’s most definitely a
Strat man. Old habits die hard.
56 april 2015
STEAL THEIR Style Mark Knopfler
Mark’s gigbag
Get the right gear and you too can nail
The Knopf’s tones, whatever your budget
The ‘Licks For Free’ rig
➊ Squier Classic Vibe ’50s
Stratocaster £319
➊
This Squier blows a lot of your budget but it’s
well worth it for that vintage Strat tone.
➋ Fender Champion 40 Combo £139

With onboard effects and stacks of features,
the Champion is an all-access pass to the
Knopf’s mellow twang.
➌ Boss FV-500H Volume Pedal £75

➌
Volume and expression for less than £80.
What’s not to like?
➍ Hoter Sportline Headband £2

Yeah, Knopfler sounds laid back, but he sweats
like a demon. Buy in red or black, it’s your choice.
➍ ➋
Total: £535
(approx based on web prices)
The ‘Sultans Of Bling’ rig

➊ Fender Classic Series ’50s
Stratocaster £529
➊
Knopfler’s signature Strat is impossible to find,
but this one gets you close to early Straits tones.
➋ Fender Vibrolux Reverb £1,159

In the early Straits days, Knopfler used a brown
Tolex-covered Vibrolux. This is a beautiful
➎
all-valve modern update on the classic.
➌ Ernie Ball EB6180 Junior

Volume Pedal £100
A volume pedal is a vital part of Mark’s rig.
➍ MXR Carbon Copy

Analogue Delay £135
➌
Pound for pound, the Carbon Copy is one of
the best delays on the market.
➎ Deerskin Driving Gloves £25

Words: Jonathan Horsley
To play like The Knopf’, you need to drive like The

Knopf’ (he’s finished in the Top 10 at Le Mans). ➍ ➋
Total: £1,948
(approx based on web prices)
Get the sound

Knopfler’s setup has included all manner of guitars, Amp settings
amps and rack effects over the years. For his early Strat
tones, set your amp to an overdrive channel on a low-gain channel overdrive
setting. Some amps may be too gain-y, so either roll off your
guitar’s volume to clean up your tone or opt for a clean
channel with the gain set higher. Knopfler used a Les Paul on
Money For Nothing, and his Pensa MK guitars were equipped
with active EMG pickups (in HSS and SSS configurations),
so a humbucker-equipped guitar is useful for those gain bass mid treble reverb
higher-gain tones on Brothers In Arms and On Every Street.
april 2015 57
Backing track
Mark Knopfler’s playing style track 61
Master the Straits man’s unique fingerstyle technique, pentatonic ideas and lazy chordStealwork
TGR265.steal.fig01.musx Their Style
File Date:is09:11
Knopfler known for18/02/2015
his tasteful improvising and folk and rockabilly, among other genres. Our licks cover the classic raked minor chords are found Mark Knopfler
in anything
silky
Page lead1sound,
of 1 using thumb, index and middle fingers several ideas, which can easily be played in other keys. from Down To The Contributor:
Waterline to Private Investigations.
Steve AllsworthHis
as part of his unusual fingerstyle approach. Here, we’re Knopfler’s approach to pentatonic sequences is rockier side is typified in Money For Nothing and fast
Notes:
looking mainly at his lead style, which draws from blues, embodied by tracks such as Sultans Of Swing, whereas blues-rockEngraved
solos are heard byonDigitalMusicArt.Com
tracks such as Solid Rock.
Rake and legato lick track 56

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Am G Dm
œ œ œ ˙ œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
q =135
& 44 ‰ œ œ œ
j
œ œ
œ
œ œ œ
3
œ œ w
BU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TGR265.steal.fig02.musx Steal Their Style
12 13 15 15 (17) 12 15 12
T 14
13 12 15 12
12 14 12
A
17/02/2015 Mark Knopfler
12 14 12
File
B Date: 15:31
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Steve Allsworth
p i m i m m
Notes:
The Engraved
three-note arpeggio that kicks the lick off is a classic Knopfler-ism and should be executed with the thumb and first two fingers byhand
of your pick DigitalMusicArt.Com
in a controlled
fingerpicked ‘rake’ across the three strings. The picking towards the end of the lick is less crucial, so use any finger you like.
A minor pentatonic lick track 57
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
& 44
œ œ œ
Am G Dm
œ
j
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ w
5
PB 7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BU BD
T
TGR265.steal.fig04.musx
5 8 5
7 (9) 7 (9) (7) 5 7 5 5
A 7 5 5 7 7 5
B
09:12 18/02/2015
7 7 5 7 5 5
TGR265.steal.fig03.musx
p i m p p p p p i p
File
p
Date:
p i p p
8
p Steal Their Style
File Date: 09:11 18/02/2015 Page 1 of 1 Mark
Using shape 1 of the minor pentatonic scale, this lick uses rests to create rhythmic interest. Knopfler’s fingerstyle technique comes into its own, allowing you to playKnopfler
quickly
Page
and 1 of 1the string shifts. It’s an adaptable method; you may prefer to use your first finger on some
manage notes where we’ve notated the thumb. Contributor: Steve Allsworth
Notes:
Outlining chord tones track 58 Rock diads and 6ths track 59

œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~
œ œ~~~~~~~œ œœœ w w~~~~~~~~
Am G Dm
~~~~
Am G Dm
& 44 œ œ œ œ œ
œ
œœœ œ œ œ œ 4 œ œ˙ j œ
‰ œ œJ œJ ‰ œœ .. œœœ œœœ ... œœ
& 4 œœ œœ œœ œ ‰ œ J
w
¿ ¿ J
5
~~~~~~~ 12
~~~~~~~~~~~~ let ring lazy feel
~~~~ ~~~~~~~~
10 12 12 13 13
T 5 5 8 13 15
¿5¿
TGR265.steal.fig05.musx T Steal 14
Their Style
5 5 7 5 7 12 14 8 8 10 10
A 5 7 5 7 A 0 2
0 2
5 7
7 9
7 7 9 7 10 14 12 12
B 5 7
File Date:
p i 15:34
m p 17/02/2015
p i m p p i m p p i m p
B Mark Knopfler
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Steve Allsworth
This lick comprises four phrases that outline the chord tones. Each phrase follows the Typically of Knopfler’s smart rhythm approach, these chord fragments
Notes:
same picking pattern: thumb (p), hammer-on, first finger (i), second finger (m), thumb. outline the main chords withoutEngraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
resorting to predictable-sounding shapes.
Fast picking and pull-offs track 60

œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Gœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ Dm
œ œ œ œ œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ
Am
4
Guitars and backing: Steve Allsworth
&4
12 8 8 12 8 8 12 8 8 12 8 8 10 7 7 10 7 7 10 7 7 10 7 7 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5
T 10 10 10 10 8 8 8 8 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6
A
B
p p i p p i etc.
This lick is a pastiche of Knopfler’s fast 16th-note picking technique from tracks such as Sultans Of Swing. Start off by learning each fret-hand shape and how the notes relate to
the notes of the chord shown above. Picking-wise, the trick is to use your thumb on every other note.
58 april 2015
60 april 2014
Sleeping with sirens interview
Thanks to eccentric production genius John Feldmann, Sleeping With

Sirens’ new album, Madness, sees guitarists Jack Fowler and Nick Martin
pushed to their limits as players, writers and consumers of caffeine…
Words: Matthew Parker Photography: Will Ireland
O
ver their six-year history, really clean tight rhythm. I grew up Jack: “Yeah. Me and Nick are ‘Me and
Florida’s melodic post- on The Clash and The Ramones Nick forever’. We’re in this together
hardcore quintet Sleeping method, so I was into the down until the end. Our writing styles are
With Sirens have learned to set strumming and the really tight very different, but when you put our
themselves apart in a world of palm-muting – I’m that guy. If you heads together, you have a happy
homogeny. Emerging from the listen to Madness and you hear really medium and we feed off each other
quagmire of scenesters and inter-band tight guitar playing, that’s me!” really well, especially live.”
politics that is the modern American
hardcore scene, the much-imitated Jack once said that “SWS got a lot of The band wrote 2011’s Let’s Cheers
group – fronted by knock-out vocalist middle fingers” in the early days of To This in three weeks. 2013’s Feel
Kellin Quinn – have earned the band. Nick, what was your took even less time. How did
themselves a reputation as trailblazers opinion as an outsider at the time? Madness compare?
and have been rewarded with sales to Nick: “I never really listened to them Jack: “I’d say it took eight to nine
match. Following 2013’s third album, before I joined, because I thought months to get this album to where we
Feel, they’ve recruited a guitarist in they were just like a ‘scene’ band. wanted it to be. I think we realised
former D.R.U.G.S. man Nick Martin, But when I started listening to the that this was a make-or-break record.
signed to monster indie Epitaph and songs on Feel, it was very different. We wanted to make it something
recorded fourth album, Madness I probably was one of those guys special, a defining record for the
– hotly tipped to take the US top spot. originally who was like, ‘Fuck them!’ band and, going with John
Recorded with Goldfinger frontman- But then you listen to how good the Feldmann, we definitely made
turned-rock-guru John Feldmann, it is songwriting is and Kellin’s vocal it happen.”
– in their own words – a “make or range and Jack’s guitar playing, it Nick: “The last record I did before
break” record. blows my mind. It makes the songs this was when I was in the band
stand out, as opposed to all the other D.R.U.G.S. and we did it with John
How would you describe your own bullshit that’s out now.” Feldmann, so I helped the guys
guitar styles? prepare: because John Feldmann is
Jack: “I’m the lead guitar player, so Nick joined in 2013. When did it first out of his fucking mind! I told
say, the Congratulations solo on the feel that you both clicked? everyone, ‘We’re gonna have a blast,
last album, or the Your Nickle Ain’t Nick: “I think it was in the first week but just prepare yourself because he’s
Worth My Dime solo. They’re all of the tour. We were overseas and very intense.’”
based in pentatonic scales. I grew up everyone was just super-stoked and it
listening to heavily blues-influenced kind of just hit me, like, ‘Woah, this is What are the best and worst things
guitarists, so I know a little bit of how this shit is meant to be.’ I’d been about working with John Feldmann?
theory, but I mostly go off what in a bunch of bands before and there Jack: “There are only good things!
feels right.” were always issues with members He’s really quick with what he does
Nick: “I’ve always prided myself on not getting on, but these guys are all and it definitely works for us. We
being a ‘plug in and play’ guy. I like like fucking brothers.” were running off and writing 10
April 2015 61
interview sleeping with sirens
Simple Sirens
Zen and the art of
pedalboard maintenance
Jack Fowler is a man who knows his way around a pedalboard, but with everything
else up in the creative air on Madness he’s tried to keep things zen on the floor.
“One thing I can tell you that I have used on the record is a very simple pedal, the
EVH Flanger,” says Jack. “Every time we needed a backup sound we’d just plug that
thing in. Or just an original Boss DD-3. We wanted to be able to recreate everything
live and use stuff that you can get everywhere, so if something breaks, you’re not
just shit out of luck!”
Jack and Nick used a pair of

Music Man guitars – an
“We’re in this together until Armada (left) and a Reflex
the end,” says Jack (right) of
his relationship with Nick
songs in three hours. If it catches your Armada, which

attention by the first chorus, you put it in the I have one of now
bank until you write something better…” and they’re fucking
Nick: “The worst thing is the recording hours. awesome. Jack’s the
There were some nights where Feldmann [tone] aficionado, and
would say, ‘I’m gonna make you guys coffees I wanted him to take the
and you’re gonna track from midnight until reins because obviously
8am.’ He likes to take you out of your comfort he’s been in the band a
zone and you do the weirdest shit. It’s like, lot longer and I consider
‘Let’s do a three-part EBow harmony!’” him ‘the composer’.”
Jack: “I think there was
It’s an album that’s resolutely written an EVH 5153, a Soldano, a
around hooks and catchy melodies. How did Satellite amp, a Bad Cat Hot Cat 100, musicians who are pulling inspiration from
you evolve your playing in response to that? which is very rare. Those were the four main Madness, that is the highest form of flattery.
Jack: “Like I say, I play off feel. So John would amps on the record. Guitar-wise, I was back If people are into it and there are songs that
throw me a guitar and say, ‘Write something!’ and forth between all of my Gibson Les Pauls make them want to rip us off, then go for it!”
So I would listen to the melody that him and and then this one Ernie Ball Reflex because it Jack: “I’ll say it flat out: people love to copy
Kellin or Nick had come up with and then I’d sounds really good for twangy stuff.” us! We sold great on the acoustic EP, so
just have to do what I do best. Somehow, it everyone comes out with an acoustic EP.
would just all fall together beautifully.” Why did you choose those amps? I’m like, ‘Think of your own shit to do!’
Nick: “For me, I’m a huge fan of The Beatles Jack: “The Soldano is a very heavily-gained Now, [with this album] if people try to
and I grew up on that simplicity of solid, head, so for songs like Kick Me and some of imitate anything we did, it’s gonna be
hooky music. There’s a lot very recognisable!”
of thought and creative
energy that goes into
making that. It’s awesome
“People love to copy us! I’m like, You’ve reached a certain
– really quite massive –
being the band that tries to
tackle that.” ‘Think of your own shit to do!’” size now as a band. Have
Jack Fowler you noticed people
getting, er, madder?
Madness sounds more straightforward and the other heavier ones, we’d use a 5150 on Jack: “We’ve got the people selling T-shirts
raw than your previous records… the second channel and a Soldano on the hot outside the shows and trying to scam kids!
Jack: “It is very straightforward. It still channel, so you got a very good in-between We have fucking cool fans, though. Some get
sounds like a lot of tracks, but mostly it’s feel – a good heavy and raw sound. Then for a little creepy, but they’re just excited. Being
different things we did on guitar… Like Gold the clean sounds we’d use the 15-watt as goofy as we are, we understand. We were
has everything from acoustic to mandolin, to Satellite amp and maybe mix it with a Fender those kids at one point.”
electric guitars, to EBows. Live, I’m going to Blues Deville and use it with the Ernie Ball.” Nick: “It’s funny, because I had quit the music
probably have a mandolin strapped to my business, so it was extreme going from my
back the whole time and I’m gonna be going The band have a habit of setting trends with quiet life at home to joining these guys and
into pedal world. And probably having a the punk/hardcore scene: the turn to the insanity of it. Every day is such a trip.
panic attack because I’ve got to do so much!” melody, the acoustic EP. What ripples do There are a lot of kids that are crying and
you think Madness might create? freaking out, but it’s flattering. We wouldn’t
What were your main guitars and amps? Nick: “I don’t know. I love when some people be where we are without them.”
Nick: “I used a lot of Les Pauls – a couple of say that someone’s ripping off our band, but
Customs. Ernie Ball [Music Man] sent us a I think it’s a form of flattery. Jack gets pissed Sleeping With Sirens’ new album, Madness,
couple of guitars, too, and I think we used an off, but at the end of the day, if there are is out now on Epitaph Records.
62 April 2015
Much more than
progenitors of
artistic indie gloom,
the Big Apple's
sharpest denizens,
Interpol, discuss
what fuels their
city blues when it
comes to guitar… Words: Stephen Daultrey Photography: Will Ireland
Kings
Of
New
64
York
april 2015
Interpol interview
M
ost bands who helped to
define an era have typically
struggled to maintain the
momentum of their early career as
trends have evolved. Not so for
Interpol. The well-cut New York
dandies burst onto the indie scene
with the sprawling, maudlin art-rock
masterpieces Turn On The Bright
Lights (2002) and Antics (2004), two
all-consuming collections of icy,
staccato riffing and lost-in-the-void
melancholia, which inspired an
explosion of indie-pop acts to take
the band’s edgy aesthetic and dilute
it into something more commercial.
Having long since outgrown the
lazy Joy Division comparisons
that were prevalent upon their
breakthrough, Interpol have
remained fiercely relevant. Last
year’s El Pintor, their fifth album
(and their best since Antics), ranked
high on many end-of-year lists.
Although the overdriven, reverb-
drenched guitar interplay of Daniel
Kessler and vocalist Paul Banks has
been intrinsic to their noirish
atmospherics, El Pintor also saw
the latter assume bass-writing duties
following the departure of enigmatic
four-stringer Carlos Dengler.
TG embraced a rare opportunity
with both maestros to try to unravel
the secrets behind their distinctive,
exquisite sounds…
April 2015 65
interview INTERPOL
Paul got his Les Paul Asides from Neil Young, what other players
Custom in high school and have shaped you as guitarists?
it’s pretty much all he uses
PB: “My parents are English – I was born in
Essex – and my father was a fingerpicking
aficionado in a skiffle band. He showed me
some of his complicated skiffle shit and
I couldn’t play it, and I do this for a living! He
collected guitars and I grew up surrounded
by records of guitar gods: Santana, Clapton,
Floyd and BB King. There are aspects of
Clapton’s style that inspired me. Mark
Knopfler was also a big deal for me as a kid.
He’s the shit, dude! I tried learning one of his
‘easier’ songs from Dire Straits’ On Every
Street and I couldn’t even play the first verse
after six hours. The picking patterns are
insane. Then I got into John Frusciante,
who’s one of my biggest guitar influences.
There’s also Hendrix, Neil Young, SRV…”
DK: “That’s pretty good, it’s like the starting
line-up in a football team. I have a hard time
identifying my playing influences because
music has always been a dominant
component in my household. I’m more about
bands. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was
14, but my musical voyage began at the age
of six, listening to obscure punk and
American hardcore bands and this crazy
British stuff through my older brother.
“When I took up guitar, I weirdly got into
classic rock. Jimmy Page became big for me, so
did John Frusciante. But my biggest influences
are the guitarists from Fugazi. It was their
approach to playing, the way they interacted
with each other and how they created a lot out
“Mark Knopfler was a big deal for me

of very little that inspired me. They also taught
me a lot about songwriting, that you need very
little to create a good song. Some of the best
as a kid. He’s the shit, dude!” Paul Banks

shows I ever went to were Fugazi shows.”
Paul, you played bass on El Pinto after

Carlos Dengler left. Was it a challenge?
Key to your sound is the way you flit between especially the way he performed acoustic PB: “Well, Carlos is unique, so it’s not possible
each other’s guitar lines and fill in the holes. songs with constant palm-muting, which was to replicate him. But there are traditions of
How has that relationship evolved across really percussive but never quiet. That being what our sound is, and relative to a guitar
five albums? said, I like fingerpicking but I’m not sure that progression, there are only so many ways the
Paul Banks: “We’ve never talked about it. Daniel does?” bass can go. If the chord progression is solid
I generally try to complement what Daniel DK: “Not so much in Interpol. There are only then it follows that the bass line will be solid
plays. Daniel writes spacious parts, which are a couple of Interpol songs where I fingerpick: as a root note progression, too. So it was
often minimal, so there are naturally spaces Hands Away [Turn On The Bright Lights] and oddly reassuring to discover that it’s not that
to insert my second guitar into. I think it’s Same Town New Story [El Pintor]. Which is hard to write a good bass line provided the
easier for one person to fit into what someone funny because I pretty much write everything song is good. But bass is not a humble
else is doing.” [in the band] on a classical guitar, picking contributor in Interpol – it’s prominent and
Daniel Kessler: “Paul deserves a lot of the nylon strings. But I then adapt and transfer has personality – so I was very conscious of
credit. He has a great ability to listen and that onto electric guitar. what Carlos had done. But I didn’t want to
add, enhance or improve a passage that over-think it; it was about having fun as the
already has a movement. That’s not Are you a classically trained guitar rhythm section with Sam Fogarino [drums].
something I can do.” player, then? I think we did a good job of keeping it in the
DK: “No, I just like the connection, warmth spirit of what we’ve done before.”
Do you consider your own playing styles to and intimacy of playing a classical guitar,
be quite different? much more so than with an acoustic. There You dismissed the Joy Division comparisons
PB: “Daniel has a very signature style that has was a time when I’d watch films while that were rife in your early days. How would
a lot of dynamics, feeling and a resounding doodling on the classical as a means of you describe Interpol’s distinctive sound?
sense of delicateness. I don’t have Daniel’s igniting an idea. I don’t do that so much DK: “I don’t know if there is a particular
finesse; I grew up obsessed with Neil Young, now, though.” Interpol sound. I feel it is a sum of all the parts
66 april 2015
INTERPOL interview
Daniel and Paul share an

appreciation of soulful,
yearning guitar playing
“I pretty much write everything in the

band on a classical guitar” Daniel Kessler
towards that as a We read an interview from 2003 where you

vocalist because it’s observed how labels had been scared to sign
part of my aesthetic, you because you were too experimental.
too. Then Sam keeps How do you feel about that now?
it all exciting and PB: “[Laughs] I’d like to think it was because
mixed together. It’s whatever we want to do ‘rock’ by injecting we were too experimental! I think it was
individually and whatever feels right in the some fuel, because otherwise I think we more that guitar bands weren’t popular at
song. And its parts are evolving and changing would do some slow-ass, fucking murky the time. But it made sense to me that things
all the time. I don’t know, am I right...?” jams! So ‘gloom’ is a component, but it’s one would take a little while to get going for us.
PB: “There’s never been a discussion when of many and it just so happens to be where We were never shooting to be on the radio.
someone’s said, ‘No, man. Don’t do that’ or we all overlap.” If you are different then people don’t
‘You’re listening to the wrong shit.’ We just do immediately get you. But people were
stuff together and the end result is Interpol. Paul, has your own love for hip-hop coming to our shows, and I thought that
Comparisons are maybe inevitable and impacted on your role in Interpol? someone would sign us eventually. Maybe
natural, but they don’t always fit because PB: “Hip-hop has had a very minimalist Daniel sees it differently?”
I see it as me surrounded by talented guys approach ever since Snoop Dogg’s Drop It DK: “I do actually, because I was the one
doing their own thing. It’s as simple as that. Like It’s Hot, featuring Pharrell Williams getting the door shut on my nose all the time!
Our sound is creative and inherently original – which has almost no music in it – became a Times back then were different. Electronic
to me, which is why I find comparisons [with hit. DJ Khaled is another who floats a quiet music was big. We recorded our first demo in
other bands] a little meh…” riff in the background to create the musical early ’98, and people were more into leftfield
beat. I call it post-ringtone hip-hop. Hip-hop electronica as far as indie went. The label we
But your music can seem melancholic and can produce hits with virtually no music in a eventually signed to in America – Matador
even ‘gothic’, in an adjectival sense. Where way that I think is genius. I think that maybe – had rejected us twice. Sure, we’d become a
do you think that ‘gloom’ comes from? inspires my guitar parts. But the influence better band, but our first demo featured PDA
DK: “It’s unfair to use ‘gothic’ because it gets might also factor in if Sam plays two beats and Roland, and PDA became our first single
put in the context of the music genre, but as and one is more hip-hop-oriented than the and it’s still one of our most popular songs!
an adjective it’s maybe true. To me, if you other so I’ll say, ‘Go with that one.’ Sam and “Did we play it a million times better when
have the chance to express something I share a little overlap there.” we recorded it for Turn On The Bright Lights?
artistically I’d rather put emotion into it. Absolutely. Sam had joined the band and we
“In my brain, something isn’t ‘gloomy’ or Can you cite any examples of that? became more comfortable with what we were
‘sad’, it’s expressive. Just like I don’t look at PB: “I think Sam often has small elements of doing. Still… I never took rejection personally
films or paintings as gloomy, but that the hip-hop in his beats, like in the outro of Say – I’d worked at a label [Domino Records] so I
director or artist is trying to convey an emotion Hello To The Angels [Turn On The Bright knew how hard it was to get signed. But it’s
or personality.” Lights] and maybe a tiny bit on Pioneer To The great that we stayed together for it to happen.
© Kevin Estrada ./Retna Ltd./Corbis
PB: “We each have our own musicality and Falls [from third album, Our Love To Admire]. It’s hard to be in a band in New York for any
tastes, and where the four of us overlap I remember I asked our mixer, Rich Costey, to duration and keep plugging away. But we
there’s ‘dreamy’, a little bit of ‘psychedelic’, side chain the compressor so the kick drum were simply invigorated by what we were
and ‘melancholy’. So it becomes an sounds like J Dilla – which means that each doing. We weren’t waiting for results.”
overriding element. For instance, Daniel’s hit of the kick drum will actually warp the
guitar has yearning, melodrama and whole mix. But we just did that a little bit in
something very soulful, and I gravitate the outro if I remember correctly.” Turn the page to see Interpol’s rig
april 2015 67
interview INTERPOL
3 paul’s pedals
PB: “I’ve not really changed my pedal rig Big Ear Loaf
over the years – delay and distortion are “This is a really clever distortion pedal.”
my main requisites. Luckily, my guitar
tech is a nerd and he’ll often have MXR Carbon Copy, Boss DD-7 &
something new for me to try out, and Malekko Ekko 616 delays
he’s had a lot of success with that.” “I use a bunch of delay pedals, mostly
an MXR Analogue, an old Boss DD-7
MXR Micro Amp & Xotic EP Boost that has a couple of settings I really like,
“I like my bass tone to be a little bit and a small boutique delay pedal [the
juicier than the straight amp sound.” Malekko] that’s pissing me off!”
6 6
4
Our Gear To Admire Fender '65 TWIN Reissue

DK: “I’ve always liked reverb but with a
2 slightly dirty, almost throwback 60s sound.
the Anniversary has a very weak signal. If I didn’t
dress it up with effects in a certain way, it would
sound very weak. But I’m also very lazy with
Ideally, if I could tour with my old Fender Princeton effects. I use a couple of overdrives, a Boss DD-5
From tried and trusted Les Paul 60s amp that I use for recording I would, but and an Eventide Space pedal, which is a new thing
Customs to big, dirty reverbs, Interpol unfortunately it’s too fragile and not tour sturdy.” that I like. It’s better than any analogue.”
give us a rare insight into their stark,
Gibson Les Paul Custom 1967 Epiphone Casino
spacey atmospherics PB: “I’ve owned my Les Paul Custom ever DK: “I have a 1967 Casino for some of our
3 since high school, all those years ago. It’s 5 older songs. I’ve been using Casinos since
Fender Pro Reverb 115 combo & been my setup since day one and it’s all I pretty Turn On The Bright Lights. That and my 1960
Hot Rod DeVille 212s much use to this day.” Anniversary are basically the only two guitars I’ve
PB: “I've been using Fender amps ever played throughout my entire tenure in Interpol.”
1 since I started playing. But for live playing, we 1960 Gretsch Anniversary
discovered that we had to disengage our amp reverb DK: “I played my 1960 Gretsch Anniversary Gibson ES-330
early on because it makes a fucking racket on shaky 4 on almost every song on the latest record Daniel’s Gibson might look like an ES-335,
stages so we switched to reverb pedals instead. But and a good deal of the eponymous fourth 6 but unlike that guitar the ES-330 is fully
there are plenty of good reverbs out there.” record, too. But like most of the guitars I own, hollow and is a backup to his main squeezes.
68 April 2015
075
Fender Classic Series

’60s Jaguar Lacquer
The iconic offset gets a nitro boost �� 72
Line 6 AMPLIFi TT
Bluetooth-enabled multi-effects in your
living room �� 74
Saint Blues Juke Joint
Mississippi Bluesmaster
A retro-vibed single-cut that’s still
got the Blues �� 75
Round-up: Farida
mahogany acoustics
R-15E, M-15E & D-15E �� 76
PreSonus AudioBox iTwo Studio
An all-in-one recording rig �� 82
LTD TL-6
83
Thinline electro-acoustics get pointy ��
Round-up: Joyo JF-300 IronMan pedals
JF-304 Time Magic Delay, JF-303 Little
Blaster, JF-314 Husky Drive & JF-316
Future Chorus �� 84
Quick Tests
DigiTech Mosaic & MXR Il Torino
Overdrive CSP033 �� 86
Accessories
Line 6 Sonic Port VX, Cooperstand Duro
Pro, Zue Engineering On Timer Pedalboard
Clock & D’Addario/Planet Waves NS
Artist DADGAD Capo �� 88
076 074 072

april 2015 71
REVIEw
Fender ’60s Jaguar
Photography: Si mon Lees
72 april 2015
gear Fender Classic Series ’60s Jaguar Lacquer
Fender Classic
Series ’60s Jaguar at a glance
Lacquer £1,054 Body: Alder

Neck: Maple
Scale: 610mm (24”)
Guitar’s coolest offset cat gets a proper Fingerboard: Rosewood
vintage-style nitrocellulose finish Frets: 22
Pickups: 2x American Vintage
’65 Jaguar single coils
The Jaguar has never
been one of Fender’s
most popular creations. Launched
comfortable add9 chords and
bends, while the nitro-finished
neck gives you a slightly silkier feel
Controls: Lead circuit: master volume,
master tone, neck pickup on/off switch, Finish
A proper gloss
in 1962 and discontinued in 1975, than the usual gloss urethane. bridge pickup on/off switch, normal/low nitrocellulose lacquer,
this offset oddball didn’t earn its Then there’s the massive array of cut switch, 3-way toggle pickup selector; the Fiesta Red finish
looks and feels like
cool points until Kurt Cobain, tones. The Jaguar’s switching has rhythm circuit: master volume, master the real deal
Kevin Shields and John Frusciante foxed many over the years, so
picked it up in the 90s. Since the here’s a quick reminder. You get tone; 2-way rhythm/lead circuit selector
model’s reissue in 1999, the Jaguar two circuits: rhythm and lead, Hardware: 6-saddle vintage-style
has appeared across most of each with a volume and tone, but adjustable bridge w/ floating vibrato Bridge
Fender’s lines, and now the the lead circuit has three extra tailpiece, vintage-style machineheads While most modern Jags
feature Adjusto-Matic
company’s given it a proper switches to turn the neck and – nickel/chrome bridges, the Lacquer sticks
nitrocellulose lacquer. bridge pickups on and off, and with the original 60s design,
Now, nitrocellulose lacquers are activate a high-pass filter. But don’t
Left-handeRS: No which can result in string
popping from aggressive
what Fender used back in the day. switch both pickups off or you’ll Finish: Fiesta Red only playing and wide bends
There’s just something about the mute the guitar entirely! Contact: Fender GBI
look, feel and even the smell of a Engaging only the neck yields 01342 331700 www.fender.com
nitro finish, and it wears dings and some of the sweetest cleans you’ll
scratches well, too. Fender has ever hear, with a non-invasive Switching
been rolling the lacquers out to its high-end that’s ripe for arpeggios It’s a lot to get your
Mexican-made guitars since 2013, and shimmering chords. Switching head round at first,
but the Jag’s switches
starting with Strats and Teles, and to the bridge yields a thinner, more arm you with a wealth
this year, it’s the turn of the cutting tone – especially with the of sounds that you’ll
struggle to find
Jazzmaster and Jaguar. high-pass filter engaged – for Bond anywhere else
The finish looks gloriously 50s and surf-style bottom-string leads,
and feels rather glossy to the especially with a touch of the
touch, but it will calm down over smooth-riding vibrato. The overly
the years. Yes, there’s only one dark rhythm circuit, which
finish available, but when it’s a engages the neck pickup only and
Frusciante ’62-aping Fiesta Red, drops the high-end, is less usable,
we’re not complaining. We make but add some amp gain or ripping
no bones about the American fuzz, and QOTSA riffage abounds.
Vintage ’65 single coils, either, For anyone seeking a vintage-
which come straight from the high- spec Jag that won’t break the bank,
end model of the same name. this is what you’ve been waiting
What might cause consternation for. However, if you’re looking for a
is the original Jaguar bridge, road-worthy Jag, we’d advise you
which features saddle grooves too look towards the Classic Player
shallow to keep strings securely in Special and its Adjusto-Matic
place – the low E tends to pop out bridge. Bridge aside, however, this
when bending high up or hitting is one of the best-sounding – and
the strings hard. Fender usually looking – Jags around.
equips modern offsets with Michael Brown
Adjusto-Matic or Mustang bridges,
which have deeper grooves, and Features
while we understand the desire for
SUMMARY
sound quality
60s authenticity, we’d fit a new Value for money
bridge before we played this live.
Build Quality
It’s a shame, as everywhere else
this Jag is pure class. The short usability
610mm (24-inch) scale makes for Overall rating
april 2015 73
REVIEw
line 6 amplifi TT
Tone
Pressing the tone button calls up a at a glance
choice of four different user presets – A, B,
C and D – for easy access to your favourite Type: Tabletop amp and
tones and jamming along to your mp3s
multi-effects modelling unit
Models: 70+ guitar amps,
100+ effects (up to eight
simultaneously) and 20+
speaker cabinets
Controls: Drive, bass,
mid, treble, reverb, blend,
tone button, tap tempo
button, Bluetooth button
Sockets: Guitar input,
headphones output, 1/4"
amp output, 2x RCA outputs,
2x 1/4" main outputs, USB,
FBV foot controller output
Dimensions: [HxWxD]
90 x 245 x 145mm
Contact: Line 6 Europe
Bluetooth 01788 566566
Bluetooth connectivity is essential www.line6.com
for both controlling the TT with the free LEDs
AMPLIFi app and streaming music from
your mp3 player The LED meter around the main
volume control indicates the levels
Line 6 AMPLIFi TT £149

for each of the five other control
knobs as you adjust them
Looking for an excuse to bring your guitar into the living room? It’s TT time
For years, we guitar

players have felt like
lepers in our own homes, our
Android device via Bluetooth to
fully access its features.
Connection with our iPad was
reputation for modelled tone –
that began 18 years ago with the
POD – impresses again.
powered speakers or a TV
soundbar through the optical
connection or an amp. There’s also
families looking on in horror if we fast and we were soon greeted by When adding effects and the option to connect to your
tried to carry our amps anywhere modelling options that will be tweaking the cab sound through computer for recording via USB.
near the lounge. We largely familiar to anyone at home with reflection and mic placement, The advantage of connecting to
stopped playing in the house, Line 6’s previous editors. Here, you the advantages of the TT’s speakers is that the TT can become
seeking empty solace in our can control EQ, reverb, gain and connectivity with your your Bluetooth streamer for music.
flatscreen TVs while our guitars volume, just like the TT’s front touchscreen device really show; If you want to jam along, you can
gathered dust. No more: panel, and a lot more besides. it’s quick and soon becomes call up one of four programmable
companies are attempting to bring presets with the tone button and
guitar into our living spaces,
utilising the connectivity of
Bluetooth to blur the lines between
Line 6’s trailblazing reputation balance guitar/track volume. And
with a growing community to
share and rate tones by song, artist
amp, multi-effects unit and
lifestyle music device – and Line 6
is leading the charge.
for modelled tone impresses or type from the TT or cloud
storage, there’s huge potential for
those who want to play more in
Think of the TT as the little There’s a serious array of amps, second nature. For longer their spare time. Looks as if guitar
desktop brother to last year’s cabs and effects models on offer. recording sessions (where the lack playing is coming home.
AMPLIFi combos, without the The amp selection will be many of an AMPLIFi PC/Mac editor may Rob Laing
speaker, but with the focus on players’ first port of call, divided be missed by some), you might
fitting into your lounge or into Clean, American, British and want to plug your device into the Features
computer setup. It’s a modelling High Gain categories, with a total mains to reduce battery drain.
SUMMARY
sound quality
processor housing traditional amp of 78 out of the box – 26 high-gain There’s plenty of flexibility over Value for money
controls, designed for the home models alone. With a rich range, where you send your sound, the
Build Quality
rather than live environment. But from sparkling ‘blackface’-type idea being that the TT fits in with
it’s also configured to connect with cleans to saturated 5150-ish your home preferences. You can usability
the AMPLIFi app on your iOS or scoops, Line 6’s trailblazing use headphones or connect to Overall rating
74 april 2015
gear st blues
St Blues Juke Joint

Mississippi Bluesmaster £1,149
An American-built single-cut that gives you a bit of everything
The St Blues story dates

back to 1984, when
the Memphis company began
running at full tilt. It even does the
job for dirty country twang with
the coil-splits engaged. The
at a glance
Body: Mahogany
crafting instruments – most mahogany construction means Neck: Mahogany Tuners
notably, its flagship Bluesmaster – there’s not as much treble spike as Scale: 629mm (24.75”) These Wilkinson
for Eric Clapton, Bono and Albert a traditional slab-built Tele, but it Fingerboard: Pau ferro E-Z-Lok tuners give you a
choice of tensions over the
King. St Blues disappeared in provides a rounder high-end for Frets: 22 nut via two height posts –
1989, but was relaunched in 2006 chunkier tones. For Tele players you can use the upper hole
with a range of Korean-made after a bit of Gibson swagger, or Pickups: 1x Kent Armstrong to lock off the string, too
instruments and the high-end USA Les Paul owners seeking bolt-on Rocker (bridge), 1x Kent Armstrong
Workshop Series. In 2011, it went twang, it’s a perfect halfway house. Vintage (neck)
back to Memphis production, The Bluesmaster is a Controls: 1x volume (w/ push/
leading to the introduction of the comfortable player, too, with a pull coil-split for bridge pickup),
cut-price USA Juke Joint line in solid weight and a chunky
2013 – which is good news for us. satin-finished neck. The hardware
1x tone (w/ push/pull coil-split for Pickups
The Mississippi Bluesmaster is a also inspires confidence: you get a neck pickup) A pair of Alnico V-loaded
Kent Armstrong
curious hybrid of classic designs. rock-solid hardtail Strat-style Hardware: Chrome-plate bridge humbuckers provide the
Where the standard Bluesmaster design with through-body string w/ six block saddles & thru-body tones here, and both have
individual coil-splits that
features a Fender-like scale length anchoring, plus Wilkinson E-Z-Lok stringing, Wilkinson Deluxe tuners voice the inner single coils
and twin single coils, the tuners, which offer a choice of of each one
Left-handed: No
The Bluesmaster is a curious

Finish: Cherryburst, Walnut,
Natural, Black, Sweet Tea Burst
(shown)
hybrid of classic designs Contact: GuitarGuitar

0800 456 1959
www.saintblues.com
Body
The Bluesmaster may
look like a Les Paul Junior
Mississippi focuses more on string tension and negate the need that’s fallen foul of a
steamroller, but it’s still a
Gibson feel and sounds, with a for string trees. If you like your tremendously comfortable,
629mm (24.75-inch) scale and guitars ornately inlaid and flame playable body shape
Kent Armstrong humbuckers. The maple-topped, the Bluesmaster
uncontoured ‘slab’ body has a isn’t for you. If, however, you enjoy
wonderfully workmanlike vibe, well-built workhorses, look this
with a 45mm (1.77-inch) thick way. Our only complaints lie with
body that looks like a compressed the slightly underwhelming satin
Les Paul Junior. The bolt-on neck finish and the price tag – compared
joint retains some Fender styling, with similarly priced USA-made
as do the Tele-like headstock and guitars from Fender, Gibson and
rounded C-profile neck, which gets PRS, it looks a little under-spec’d.
chunkier as you get further up the However, as an alternative to
pau ferro fingerboard. Fender’s American Standard Tele
While its looks are vintage, the HH, PRS S2 Mira or Gibson Les
Bluesmaster offers a surprisingly Paul Studio 2015, the Bluesmaster
flexible palette of tones. A proves that sometimes it’s worth
zebra-coiled hot Kent Armstrong daring to be different.
Rocker humbucker graces the Dave Burrluck
bridge position, with a Vintage
humbucker in the neck, both with Features
individual coil-splits via the
SUMMARY
sound quality
volume and tone controls Value for money
respectively. Appropriately, blues is
Build Quality
natural territory, whether that’s
SRV or Billy Gibbons, right up to playability
classic rock with the bridge pickup Overall rating
April 2015 75
round-up
farida mahogany series
Farida mahogany
series round-up
A trio of new acoustics boasting differing
body shapes fashioned from mahogany.
With sleek necks and Fishman pickup
systems, could one be your next guitar?
Words: Simon Bradley Photography: Simon Lees
76 april 2015
GEAR Round-up
Most guitar players are united

by the unquenchable
desire to buy more guitars – lots of guitars…
the tone and feel: compare a guitar
featuring a spruce top with one made from
cedar and hear for yourself.
as many as we can afford or fit in our We’re die-hard fans of mahogany as
homes. Of course, electrics come in myriad a tonewood, but what can it bring to the
established types that offer widely varying acoustic arena? Welcome, then, these
tones and, therefore, applications for use three all-mahogany guitars from Farida,
– and surely each of us would do our best to a company well-versed in providing
persuade our bank manager that we really impressive instruments at attractive prices.
do need a Les Paul to go with our Strat, What’s noteworthy right off the bat is that
Telecaster and Ibanez JEM. By comparison, all offer a solid top, which provides a much
the similarly vast choice of acoustics in richer, more resonant acoustic tone than a
today’s market can be overlooked: surely laminate does. Each also has a mahogany
once you’ve bought one half-decent neck capped with a fingerboard made from
strummer, you don’t need another, right? sonokelin wood, an affordable material that
Well, no: different tonewoods and body mirrors rosewood both in looks and feel.
shapes can make a significant difference to Let’s get playing…
april 2015 77
round-up
farida mahogany series
Farida R-15E £399

The tone zone
The first thing we notice

with all three guitars
is how attractive the mahogany
frets could be a little smoother.
The R-15E also features Fishman’s
impressive Presys Blend system,
tops are. The R-15E’s gloss which includes a piezo pickup and
finish brings out the subtle grain a built-in mic, with the rear strap
nicely, and the finishing on each pin doubling as the jack input.
guitar is of a high standard. The There’s a tightness to the
understated black and white acoustic tone that works well with
pinstripe binding embellishes strummed chords, while evocative
proceedings well, and if you’re fingerstyle passages come to life
turned off by too much abalone, thanks to the inherent mahogany
these guitars are quite the tonic. warmth. When plugged in, the
Farida describes the body Fishman has all manner of tone-
shape as ‘Richtone’, and as such, tailoring functions, not least a pot
it features a narrower waist that lets you blend the mic signal
and more rounded shoulders with the piezo for a true tonal
than the arguably more familiar balance. Along with the three-
dreadnought design. The band EQ and associated notch
headstock is home to the chrome- control, you’re always in charge of
plated tuners, and is faced with your amplified sound. We’re big
a mahogany veneer, while the fans of this guitar and, aside from
fingerboard is made of sonokelin the rough frets – solved in minutes
and sports 20 frets. We’re being with a Planet Waves polishing kit –
picky, but the finishing on these it’s highly recommended.
Farida D-15E £399

Judging the dread'
Farida
number of dreadnoughts and,
produces
a good
setting the Fishman preamp’s
blend just left of centre, engaging
the phase button and adjusting the
with a body depth a shade over EQ to our preference. This
96mm (3.78 inches), the D-15E is sort of fine-tuning is all part of
a tad narrower than this reviewer’s being a modern acoustic player,
stock Takamine dreadnought. after all, and the Presys Blend
The mahogany glints invitingly system always has your back,
beneath the gloss finish and, as especially with the addition of an
with all three guitars here, the onboard tuner.
back and sides are of laminated Acoustically, the D-15E performs
mahogany and the inner well with fingerstyle pieces, again,
construction is tidy and clean. benefitting from the mahogany’s
Another common feature across all warmth. Conversely, the attack of
of these guitars is a 43mm a pick helps notes to cut through
(1.69-inch) nut made from the mix, and the overall balance
PPS plastic, and the mahogany and well-rounded character of
neck’s profile is comfortable and the tone should provide you with
eminently playable. inspiration to keep on playing.
The tone, both acoustically and At just a groat under £400, the
electrically, is loud and full, with D-15E is certainly not a guitar to
the emphasis on high-mids and be sniffed at. The dreadnought is
treble. Initially, we found that the an eternally popular design and
amplified bass response wasn’t if this turns out to be your first
quite as fat as we’d expected, but all-mahogany acoustic, you won’t
we easily addressed this issue by regret your purchase.
78 april 2015
GEAR Round-up
Farida M-15E £349

Small yet perfectly formed
while you may be

forgiven for
assuming that this little beauty is
M-15E has plenty of body, with a
pleasantly warm midrange and
similarly toasty high end. The
a travel acoustic due to its smaller tone is certainly compact – no pun
body size, it is in fact what’s known intended – but more than robust
as a parlour guitar. Instruments enough to stand up to energetic
following the parlour style have chords without losing too much
a body shape all their own, clarity. When using the onboard
including a slightly pinched waist Fishman IsysT preamp and piezo
and a body that joins the neck at pickup, the mahogany’s warmth
the 12th fret. comes through, and you can
As the only member of this trio enhance this depth by engaging
to feature a satin finish, playing the the phase switch.
M-15E is a tactile experience that’s The fingerboard’s a little dry
aided by the bijou dimensions, and, as mentioned, restringing
which allow you to hold it close. does takes longer than usual due
The reduced scale length leaves to the fiddly placement of the
room for 19 frets, and the old- machinehead cylinders, but we
school vibe is enhanced by a feel there’s a place for the M-15E
slotted headstock. Yes, this can in many a player’s arsenal. It’s
make string changes something well made, sounds fine both
of a chore, but its traditional acoustically and amplified, and
squared-off design certainly looks comes in at a decent price – that’s
the part. Played acoustically, the all we could ask for.
Farida R-15E Farida D-15E Farida M-15E

At a glance At a glance At a glance
Top: Solid mahogany Top: Solid mahogany Top: Solid mahogany
Back & sides: Mahogany Back & sides: Mahogany Back & sides: Mahogany
Neck: Mahogany Neck: Mahogany Neck: Mahogany
Scale: 650mm (25.59") Scale: 650mm (25.59") Scale: 644mm (25.35")
Fingerboard: Sonokelin Fingerboard: Sonokelin Fingerboard: Rosewood
Frets: 20 Frets: 20 Frets: 19
Electrics: Fishman Presys Blend, Electrics: Fishman Presys Electrics: Fishman IsysT,
w/ controls for volume, bass, middle, Blend, w/ controls for volume, w/ volume control; tuner, contour,
treble, notch, mic blend; tuner button, bass, middle, treble, notch, mic phase switches
phase button blend; tuner button, phase button Hardware: Chrome
Hardware: Chrome Hardware: Chrome Left-handed: No
Left-handed: No Left-handed: No Finish: Satin natural only
Finish: Satin natural only Finish: Gloss natural only
Contact: Farida UK
01925 582420
www.faridaguitars.co.uk
Features Features Features

SUMMARY
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
sound quality sound quality sound quality

Value for money Value for money Value for money
Build Quality Build Quality Build Quality
Playability Playability Playability
Overall rating Overall rating Overall rating
april 2015 79
REVIEw
PreSonus
M7 condenser mic
Finally! You can throw
out that old SingStar mic Studio One Artist Edition
and use this. It’s got a large
diaphragm, don’t you know… This bundled version of PreSonus’s award-
winning recording software does so much that
if it wasn’t free and legal, we’d feel like criminals
at a glance
Type: Audio interface, DAW software,
condenser mic & headphones package
Controls: AudioBox iTwo: 2x input gain,
Connections 2x line/instrument button, volume,
Baby got jacks – two of ’em, to be
headphone level, monitor/playback mix,
PreSonus AudioBox
precise. There are also two mic input 1 phantom power button
preamps, an iOS connection,
speaker outputs, a headphone Sockets: AudioBox iTwo: 2x combi XLR/
socket and a pair of MIDI ports:
jack inputs, headphone output, MIDI in/out,
iTwo Studio £229

that’s rare at this price
USB 2.0 out, USB, 2x jack outputs
Included cables: XLR, USB
Contact: Source Distribution
An all-in-one audio solution? Think inside the ’Box 0208 962 5080 www.presonus.com
There are loads of

ways to
record your own songs, and to get
for condenser mics. To help battle
latency (we didn’t experience
any), the iTwo has a monitoring
interface’s MFi port. Once you’ve
downloaded the Capture Duo app
(for free two-track recording) or
Finally, you get a PreSonus M7
large-diaphragm condenser mic –
sensitive enough to capture vocals
started, you’ll find a long list of blend control, so you can choose to paid for the full Capture app (32 or acoustic guitar; robust enough
stuff to buy that you never thought listen to the direct signal from the tracks), you’re free to roam! This to place in front of your cab. It
a guitarist would need: interfaces, input, or the signal that’s been makes recording your rehearsals comes with its own stand mount,
mics, software… We could go on. through your computer (complete or venturing to different recording but it also works with a more
PreSonus’s new AudioBox iTwo with any effects or amp sims you environments easy. Once you’re serious shock mount to help kill
Studio is an all-in-one solution might be using). It’s handy, and done, you can beam the tracks vibrations. The M7 won’t win any
comprising all of the above, plus a we’ve seen it many times before, over wifi into the included Studio awards for its ‘velvety character’,
pair of headphones. But wait! Not but we’re making tracks, not
only does the included audio
interface connect to any Mac or
PC, it’s part of a new breed of MFi
The free software is easy to tasting wine – it’s a real workhorse.
This is a complete recording
package for songwriters, clocking
(Made For iOS) devices that can
connect directly to your iPad
without the need for external
use, stable and yours to keep in at a bargain price. Not long ago,
an interface alone of this quality
would’ve cost a similar amount.
hacks such as the Camera but it’s also easy to accidentally set One Artist software to continue Buy one before the PreSonus team
Connection Kit. it to input monitoring, only to working: clever. Usually free realise what they’ve done!
Getting started is easy. The iTwo wonder why you can’t hear the software is little more than an Stuart Williams
interface doesn’t need drivers – our tracks you’ve already recorded! enhanced demo with limited track
review model plugged straight iPad connectivity is great, too. counts and functionality, but here, Features
into our computer’s USB port, The included USB cable can power PreSonus has spoiled us. You get
SUMMARY
sound quality
powered up and sprung into the iTwo (the other end connects an unlimited track count, loads of Value for money
action. It features a pair of to your iPad’s charger or a battery effects (including some better-
Build Quality
combi-sockets for jack leads from pack), while you hook up your than-normal amp models), and
your guitar or XLR cables from Lightning or 30-pin connector virtual instruments. It’s easy to use, playability
mics, plus there’s phantom power between the iPad and the totally stable and yours to keep. Overall rating
82 april 2015
gear LTD TL-6
LTD TL-6 £469

Struggling to get your acoustic heard on stage?
This all-new thinline electro cutaway might help
ESP’s affordable LTD

range is known
for its rock and metal-friendly
and a low-ish action, any electric
player is going to feel at home.
Acoustically, not least because of
at a glance
Body: Chambered mahogany
Neck
With a PRS-like 635mm
(25-inch) scale length, a
guitars, less so acoustics. Although the compromised soundbox, w/ maple top thin U profile and pretty big
frets, the TL-6 plays more
the brand unveiled a new line of there’s little projection: it’s okay for Neck: Mahogany like an electric than most
standard acoustics
traditional acoustic boxes at this practising and in-front-of-the-telly Scale: 635mm (25”)
year’s NAMM gear-fest, at the end noodling, but little else. But that’s Fingerboard: Rosewood
of 2014, it took the wraps off a the point: this isn’t a standard
more innovative three-guitar TL feedback-friendly acoustic; it’s a Frets: 22
(as in thinline) range: a steel- stage guitar that’s meant to be Electrics: B-Band under-saddle
string, nylon-string and 12-string. amplified. The onboard B-Band Electret Film transducer with Electrics
We say ‘innovative’, but the Electret Film under-saddle B-Band T-7 Preamp with volume, The B-Band system uses
thinline electro-acoustic is hardly transducer, combined with the 3-band EQ, tuner and phase switch a unique Electret Film
under-saddle transducer
new. However, in today’s over- B-Band T-7 Preamp – with volume,
stocked market, the genre is pretty three-band EQ, onboard tuner and Hardware: Chrome-plated paired with a T-7 Preamp,
which offers volume,
rare and often high-end in price. phase switch – is fit for purpose. Grover tuners three-band EQ, onboard
tuner and a phase switch:
So, what’s the attraction? As any There’s a slight lack of wallop to Left-handed: No stage-ready
gigging acoustic player will know, the low E and a little too much hiss Finish: Natural,
getting a good amp’d acoustic for ultra-quiet studio recording, Black Gloss (shown)
sound at high volume levels – for but the EQ is sensible, the phase Body
example, when playing with a full switch essential to tame feedback,
Contact: Selectron UK
01795 419460 It looks like an Eclipse,
but the TL-6 is primarily
The TL-6 feels more like a rock www.espguitars.com hollow, with a solid centre
section and 45mm
(1.77-inch) depth. Plugged
in, it has a much higher
semi than a Martin D-28

feedback threshold
compared with a typical
electro-acoustic
band – can be problematic, not and the overall sound is more than
least with feedback caused by your credible, especially mixed in with
acoustic’s full-depth hollowbody. a larger band. And, by design, the
Throw in a loud bassist and TL-6 has a much higher feedback
over-noisy onstage monitors, and threshold than any full-depth
in some scenarios, feedback will electro-acoustic we had to hand.
win the day: not good. This is an ideal guitar to run
The thinline concept reduces the through your pedalboard and
amount of air within the body and, create acoustic-textured ‘electric’
typically, adds some solid wood to sounds; its boundaries are your
join top to back: both features imagination. We can’t help
should reduce onstage feedback. thinking an additional magnetic
That’s the theory. pickup version would blur the lines
The TL-6 looks like a slightly even more. At this price, the TL-6
enlarged ESP Eclipse: the back is could not only be an ideal onstage
routed out, leaving sides, a centre electro for loud scenarios but also
block under the acoustic-like a source of left-field, treated
bridge, and a pocket for the ‘acoustic’ tones.
glued-in neck. It’s capped with a Dave Burrluck
maple top, with sizeable ‘slash’
soundhole and bound edges. Features
With a rock-like ‘thin U’ neck
SUMMARY
sound quality
profile and width, the TL-6 feels Value for money
more like a rock semi than a
Build Quality
Martin D-28, but with a 350mm
(13.8-inch) fingerboard radius, playability
pretty big but nicely fettled frets Overall rating
april 2015 83
round-up
joyo pedals
Joyo JF-300 IronMan Pedals

IronMan lives again with a quartet of effects from the Chinese
company’s latest line in bargainous mini pedals
Five years ago, you’d be lucky to find
a decent pedal for under £50.
Then the Chinese pedal revolution came
along, and Joyo led the pack with solid
enclosures, true-bypass switching and
good-sounding – if unoriginal – tones. The
company’s affordable pedals have evolved
considerably since then, and its latest series
respond to the current influx of mini pedals
with their own twist – a handy flip-top shield,
which keeps your settings safe from pesky
gigbag knocks and onstage foot assaults; two
tiny LEDs illuminate the Joyo logo when the
lid’s down and the pedal’s on. Each of the
stompboxes comes with a non-slip rubber
base and Velcro for attaching to your ’board,
as well as sturdy enclosures and metal jacks,
although their small size means they require a
power supply. The IronMan line is expanding
– we counted 23 pedals on the website – and
the four here cover a breadth of effects. Let’s
see if they have us jumping for Joyo…
Joyo JF-304 Time Joyo JF-303 Little

Magic Delay £49 Blaster £49
Magic in the air Jamming with the Master Blaster
With just a trio of controls, the Time To our ears and eyes, the Little
Magic keeps things simple, and its Blaster is based on the high-gain MI
digital-emulating-analogue tones Audio Crunch Box distortion, and does
sound a little like tape delay as they a fine job of replicating its thick, British
gradually lose low-end, which is ideal tone. The mid-heavy, saturated drive
for adding a set-and-forget delay to tears through your speakers, while the
accompany all types of playing. And presence control is a boon for tailoring
while upping the mix – which actually the pedal’s top-end to your amp – too
adjusts the overall delay level – reveals much and it gets fizzy, but get it right
slightly hissy repeats, that’s all part of and it sounds as if you’ve gained an
the vintage-voiced charm. The TM isn’t extra distortion channel. Sure, the
going to win many points for versatility, low-gain tones aren’t up to much, but
but it’s not going to take up much room if you’re after hot-rodded JCM-esque
on your ’board, either. sounds, the Little Blaster is a steal.
84 april 2015
GEAR Round-up
A sweet, fat amp-like drive Joyo JF-314

Husky Drive £49
that covers all styles Doggone good drive
of rock and blues

the Obsessive Compulsive Drive is
the basis for a wealth of pedals, and the
Husky Drive is no different. It’s a
much-imitated design for a reason, and
Joyo’s IronMan apes the sound with a
sweet, fat amp-like drive that covers all
styles of rock and blues, while the high/
low peak switch offers aggressive
clipping and softer drives respectively.
It’ll thicken up single coils a treat, but we
preferred the sounds with humbuckers
for beefy barre chords and slick,
sustaining solos.
Joyo JF-316
Future Chorus £49
Future perfect
we know chorus isn’t everyone’s bag,
but the Future Chorus is worth checking
out: it’s an all-analogue stomper that
aims to replicate the classic effects of,
yes, the 80s, with a rich detune that’s
never overbearing – think Boss CE-2
rather than Electro-Harmonix Small
Clone. Our only complaint is that the
rate can’t go fast enough for Black Hole
Sun-style faux-Leslie sounds, but lower
speeds bring a sweet Andy Summers-
esque swirl that thickens any clean tone
with a sweet high-end shimmer.
At A Glance
Type: Delay, overdrive,
distortion and
chorus pedals
Controls: Time Magic:
Mix, repeat, time; Little Joyo JF-304 Time Magic Delay Joyo JF-303 Little Blaster
Blaster: Presence, tone, Features Features
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
volume, distortion; Husky sound quality sound quality

Drive: Gain, tone, volume, Value for money Value for money
high/low peak switch; Build Quality Build Quality
Future Chorus: Level, USability USability
depth, rate Overall rating Overall rating
Sockets: Input,
output, power
Joyo JF-314 Husky Drive Joyo JF-316 Future Chorus
Bypass: True bypass Features Features
Power: 9V power
SUMMARY
SUMMARY
sound quality sound quality

supply only Value for money Value for money
Contact: Joyo Audio UK Build Quality Build Quality
0161 873 8188 USability USability
www.joyoaudio.co.uk Overall rating Overall rating
april 2015 85
REVIEw
mxr/digitech
MXR Il Torino
Overdrive CSP033 £102
Custom Shop drive with a license to IL
One of the most difficult
aspects to pin down
on your ’board is dirt pedals: they
keeps your core tone uncoloured
and intact. That also makes it less
forgiving of mistakes than
have to work with the rest of your compressed Marshall-style drive.
rig to make the cut. MXR’s Custom Punching in the boost mode and a
Shop bods have been turning out low gain level adds an earthy
stompboxes that fit the bill for a break-up that’s hugely responsive
few years, and with the Il Torino to playing dynamics, and makes
Overdrive they reckon they’ve for a great ‘always-on’ overdrive,
cracked the secret of overdrive that especially with an already-cooking
blends with your amp’s natural valve amp. This is where the Il Type: Overdrive pedal
break-up. The company drafted in Torino shines: delivering valve- Controls: Treble, mid, bass,
Carlo Sorasio, Italy’s top boutique aping shimmer, rather than grittier
amp and pedal builder, who higher gains, nearing fuzzier
master, gain, OD/boost button
designed the circuit and equipped RAT-like sounds. Sockets: Input, output, power
Features
the pedal with a three-band EQ, If you have a craving for Bypass: Buffered
SUMMARY
sound quality
plus switchable OD and boost high-fidelity dirt, the Il Torino Power: 9V battery, 9V power supply Value for money
modes. could be what you need; it’s a (not included) Build Quality
The pedal’s MOSFET transistor- different, boutique-y overdrive
Contact: Westside Distribution usability
based design provides a tight, that deserves a play.
glassy, almost hi-fi crunch, but Michael Brown 0844 326 2000 www.jimdunlop.com Overall rating
DigiTech Mosaic £109

The 12-string emulator that’s a work of art
If you want to make your
six-string sound like a
12-string without faffing around
shifted sound with your six-
string playing.
After testing the Mosaic with
with MIDI, your best bet until now both electric and acoustic guitars,
has been to set we’re convinced: this is the closest
a pitch-shifter to double your pedals have come to emulating
playing an octave up. The advent 12-strings. Open chords from
of polyphonic tracking has made 12-string staples such as Hotel
this much more achievable, but California, Wish You Were Here
no pedal has properly emulated and, yes, Stairway… ring true with
a 12-string. a halo of overtones, and while
The Mosaic aims to accurately there’s a touch of digital flutter
recreate the 12-string effect by when tracking extended chords,
adding an octave up to the low E, adding some overdrive after the
A, D and G as normal, but doubles effect makes it infinitely more
the B and high E at the same pitch, convincing when using an electric.
just like on a real 12-string. This The Mosaic may be a pricey
Type: 12-string emulator pedal
intelligent doubling results in a less one-trick pony – you can get a fully Controls: Level, tone Features
synthetic sound than, say, a functional pitch-shifter for this Sockets: Input, output, power
SUMMARY
sound quality
DigiTech Whammy, which adds a price – but what a convincing trick Bypass: True-bypass Value for money
high octave on top of the E and B it is. Anyone serious about Power: 9V power supply only (included) Build Quality
as well. And while the controls are 12-string emulation will be
Contact: Sound Technology usability
basic – just level and tone – they’re champing at the bit to plug one in.
all you need to subtly blend the Michael Brown 01462 480000 www.digitech.com Overall rating
86 AprIL 2015
Accessories
All the small things
Cooperstand
Duro Pro
’Stand by me
When you’re lugging your guitar, amp and pedalboard
around, the last thing you want is another stand under your
arm. Fortunately, the Cooperstand folds up into one of the
most compact around – just 22 x 11 x 4cm – for easy gigbag
stashing, and the new Duro Pro is the most refined version yet.
We’re talking recycled industrial-grade ABS composite, steel
reinforcement and a low centre of gravity here – which basically
ZÜE Engineering On Timer translates to a sturdy, reliable stand. There are three colours, too:
Pedalboard Clock red, blue and Pro Glo, the latter of which ups the price to £35.90,
but glows in the dark (natty).
Keeping time at the ZÜE (£27.65, www.cooperstand.com)
Think your ’board has everything? Well, we bet it doesn’t have a
pedalboard clock. ZÜE Engineering’s On Timer is powered by a nine-volt
battery or power supply, and offers two primary functions: one is the time
(via the top LED), and the other is a countdown timer (on the bottom LED), D’Addario/Planet Waves
ensuring that your 20-minute mid-gig jazz odyssey doesn’t result in your set NS Artist DADGAD Capo
running over. Control-wise, the right footswitch freezes the countdown, while
the left brightens and dims the displays, and you can even set up a warning The DADGADy of partial capos
light for the end of the gig.($129, www.zueengineering.com) If you haven’t tried a partial capo before, this
DADGAD-emulating effort from D’Addario/
Planet Waves could get your creative juices
flowing. Stick it at the 2nd fret, and it covers
only the A, D and G strings, simulating
folk favourite DADGAD tuning,
albeit in the key of E on a standard-
tuned guitar. But wait, there’s
more! By flipping the capo
around, you get open
A tuning, too, with the pads
hitting the D, G and B
strings at the 2nd fret.
Add in the easy trigger
action and integrated
NS Mini/Micro
Tuner bracket, and
the DADGAD Capo
is a cut-price ticket to
increased creativity.
(£22.50, www.daddario.com)
Line 6 Sonic Port VX
First Port of call for recordings
The latest addition to the Sonic Port interface family, the VX adds a pair
of condenser mics and mic preamps to the format, ensuring it now covers
all the bases for electric and acoustic guitarists. What’s more, it works
across Mac, PC and iOS devices, and promises zero latency monitoring,
too. Connection-wise, the VX arms you with guitar and aux ins, as well as a
headphone out and a pair of 1/4-inch outputs for monitors, while both USB
and Lightning cables are included – you can even mount it on a mic stand or
camera tripod for optimum mic placement.
(£139, www.line6.com)
88 april 2015
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april 2015 91
lass
C ackic
tr
The Killers
Smile Like
You Mean It
This laid-back anthem is a feast of open chords and delayed riffs, and
it’s sure to please crowds hankering for some mid-2000s nostalgia
© Frank White
92 april 2015
classic track the killers | Full track + backing (tracks 62-63)
this song comes with a full demo track and a backing track
(minus guitar) on your CD. Simply insert the disc in your player,
press play and jam along guitaraoke style!
smile like you mean it

Words and Music by Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Ronnie
Also Available: the killers ‘COMPLETE CHORD SONGBOOK’
Vannucci and Dave Keuning With lyrics & chord names, 160pp. £12.95
© 2004. Universal Music Publishing Limited ref. AM999559
UK/EU reproduced by kind permission of Music Sales Limited. Every official release from The Killers arranged from
US/CAN reproduced by kind permission of Hal Leonard Corporation. the actual recordings in the original keys, with full
All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.” lyrics and guitar chord boxes.
Includes all the songs from the albums Hot Fuss,
Sam’s Town and Day & Age, plus the Sawdust collection
and 10 more B-sides and bonus tracks.
the killers
full Smile Like
TGR265.killers.fig01.musx
File Date: 15:34 23/02/2015
tab You Mean It Smile Like You Mean It
TGR265.killers.fig01.musx Smile Like You
TheMean It
Killers
PageDate:
File 1 of 15:34
1 23/02/2015 Contributor: Simon Young
The Killers
Notes:
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Contributor: Simon Young
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2
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
A4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
B 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
4
0 0 0
Smile Like You Mean It
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
File Date: 13:01 23/02/2015 The Killers

Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Simon Young
Play bars 1 and 2 with steady down-picking, keeping your hand movements as small and efficient as possible. In bar 3, the band come in and you switch to playing strummed open chords.
Notes:
These should be played with relaxed ‘down up’-style alternate picking.
Verse
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& 44 ..
G Am 3 Em
4 1
Guitars and backing: Kit Morgan
0:31
.
.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
T 5 5 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 5 8 5 8 5 10 12 5 5 5 5 8 5 5 8
A
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ cont. sim.
B
1
œœ
G5
œœ
Am
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ .. œœ œœ œœ œœ j .. œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
1. 2.
&april 2015 œœ œœ ‰ œœœ œœ

œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ
94
œ œ œ œ œ œ
# 1œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& 44 ..
G
G Am
Am 3 Em
Em
1 4 1
1 3
4
0:31
classic track the killers |
.
0:31
.
0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
T 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 8
8 5
5 5
5 8
8 5
5 5
5 8
8 5
5 8
8 5
5 10
10 12
12 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 8
8 5
5 5
5 8
8
A
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤
B
Verse (continued) 1
1
cont.
cont. sim.
sim.
œœ
5
œœ
G5
G Am
œœ œœ œœ œœ j
Am
# œœ œœ .. œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ
1. 2.
.. œœ
1. 2.
& œœ œœ ‰ œœ
œœ œœ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œœ
> > œ œ œ œ œ
. . 3300
. . 00
0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
T 5
5 5
5 8
8 5
5 8
8 5
5 10
10 12
12 5
5 5
5 5
5 5
5 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
3
0
3
3
0
3
3
0
3
3
0
3
3
0
1
1
2
A 0 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
2
≤ ≤
B 0
0 0
0
3 3 3 3 3 3
0
0
3 3 3 3 3 3
4
4
Em
# œœ
Em
œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ ..

& œ œ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ œœ
œœ
œ œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ
œ œ œ œ œ œ
.
.
0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0
T 1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
A 2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
B 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 0
0 2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7
7
The open first string should ring out throughout bars 1 to 4, so fret the second string carefully to avoid accidentally muting the adjacent string. Keuning plays thisSmile
line using Like You
alternate Mean It
picking.
Hit the open-string stabs in bar 5 with upstrokes and move into bar 6 with a relaxed ‘down up’ strumming motion.
Chorus
G/B C G5 Dadd 11/F #
4œ œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ .
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œ
& 44 .. œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ .
3
2
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
1:02
. .
. .
0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 0
T 8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
8
7
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
3
0
3
0
3
0
3
0
3
0
3
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
3
2
0
0
A 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ cont. sim.
B 7 7 7 7 7 7
3 3 3 3 3 3
3
7 3
7 3
7 3
7 3
7 2 2 2 2 2 2
1
Once again, these open chords are strummed with a laid-back feel. Notice that Keuning always plays the opening G/B chord up at 7th position, instead of a more logical open-position shape.
Use the shape shown here for authenticity or stick with open position if the change is a challenge.
TGR265.killers.fig04.musx Smile Like You Mean It
Solo
⇤ œ œ œ œ
D Em C
# 4 1œ 2œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2
œ œ
& 4
3 1
1
2
let ring
2:03
w/delay (240ms)
14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15
T 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 12
12
12
12
13
12
13
12
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
1
cont. sim.
œ œ œ œ œœ ~~~~~ œ œ œ œ œ
# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
D Em
œ œ œ J œ œ
4
& J
april 2015 95
⇤ œ œ œ œ
D Em C
# 4 1œ 2œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 2
œ œ
classic&track 4 D⇤
1
|
3 1
2
œ œ œ œ
Em C
the killers
#2:034 1 letw/delay
œ ring2 œ(240ms)œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ œ œ œ
2
& 4 14
3 1
1
2
14 14 14 15 15 15 15
T let ring
15 15 15 15 15 15 15 12
12
12
12
13
12
13
12
A
solo (continued)
2:03
w/delay (240ms)
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B 14 14 14 14 15 15 15 15
T1 15 15 15 15
cont. sim.
15 15 15 12
12
12
12
13
12
13
12
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
œ œ œ œ œœ ~~~~~ œ œ œ œ œ
œ œ
1
cont.Dsim.
#
Em
œ œ œ J œ œ
4
& œ œ œ œ ~~~~~ J œ
œ œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
#
D Em
œ œ œ ~~~~~J œ œ
4
& J
T
~~~~~
15 15 15 15 12 13 12 12 15
12 12 12 12 12 14 12 12 12
A 12 12 12 14
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
T4 15
12
15
12
15
12
15
12
12
12 14 12 12
13 12
12
12 15
A 12 12 12 14
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
⇤
œ œ œ œ
C
# œj œ
4
œ œ j œ œ œ œœ œ œ œ
& 3⇤C
œ
2
J
# œj œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& 3 BU( )
œ
j
œ œ œ
2
BU BU BU J
BU BD
15 15 15 15
T 15 17 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17) (15 ) 13 12
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B BU
15
BU
15
BU
15
BU
15
BU BD
T7 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17) 15 (17) (15 ) 13 12
A
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
7
In bars 1 to 4 you can either take a ‘down up’ or an ‘up down’ approach to picking; the first method keeps your pick centred in between the two strings you are targeting; the second method will
position your pick on the outer position. Try both techniques to see what works best for you.
Bridge
3œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ 21 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
1.2.
#
& 44 .. ..
Am Em
1
1 1
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œœ œœ œ œœ œœ 21 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
1.2.
#
& 44 .. 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 .
2:19 Am Em
13 13 13 13 13 12 12 12 .
3 w/delay (240ms) 1
1
1
. .
T 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 12
12
12
12
12 12
12
12
12
12
13
12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12
A
B 2:19
. 14 .
1 w/delay (240ms)
cont. sim.
3. . .
T 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 12
12
12
12
12 12
12
12
12
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
12
12
12
12
12
12
A
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœcont. sim.
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
B B 5 C5
1
&
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
3.
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
B5 C5
&
T
A
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
B
5
œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ >œ >œ >12œ >12œ >12œ >œ12 >œ12

# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
T 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 13 13 13 13
œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ
11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 D5 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 12 12 12
A 1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4
B
&
5
œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ

# œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ
D5
grad.1/4
bend 1/4 1/4 1/4
& 1312
T
Aapril 2015
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
1/4
15
14
1/4
15
(15)
15
(15)
15
(15)
15
(15)
1/4
15
(15)
1/4
96
B grad. bend
8
3.
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
|
B5 C5
&
classic track the killers
bridge
A
T (continued)
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
12
11
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
B
5
œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ >œ

# œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ œ
D5
1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4
&
grad. bend
1/4 1/4 1/4 1/4

T 13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
13
12
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
14
15
(15)
15
(15)
15
(15)
15
(15)
15
(15)
A
B
8
Keuning switches to down-picking throughout the bridge, gradually getting louder towards the end to emphasise the change into a repeat of the chorus. In live performances, he often uses
palm muting for the first few bars, but the studio version has a fuller un-muted sound.
Smile Like You Mean It
File Date: 12:58 23/02/2015
TGR265.killers.fig06.musx TheMean
Smile Like You Killers
It
Page 1 of 12:58
File Date: 1 23/02/2015 Contributor:
Smile LikeSimon
You Young
Mean It
The Killers
Notes:
Page 1 of 1
File Date: 12:58 23/02/2015 Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Contributor: Simon Young
The Killers
Page
Notes:1 of 1 Contributor: Simon Young
Outro
Notes:
G5 Am Em
#
& 44 .. Gœœœ5
G5 œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
œœ
Am Em
# œ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
& #3:18444 .. œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
Am Em
.. œœ3 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ

& 3:184 œ01 œ œ01 œ01 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0
. œœ30 œœ330 œœ330 œœ330 œœ330 œœ330 œ22 œ œ22 œ22 œœ01 œ01
œ22
œ01
œ22
œ01
œ22 œ00 œ00 œ00 œ00 œ00 œ00 œ00
. 0 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022
T
. 33303
2
A 3:18 0 0 0 0 0 2
. ⇥300
3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤
B
T 3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
. 03
0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A
T 1
0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 2 cont. sim.
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0
⇥3 3≤ ⇥3 ⇥3 3≤ ⇥3 ≤
B
A 0
3
0
0
3
0
0
3
0
0
3
0
0
3
0
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ cont. sim.
B 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
j
cont. G
sim.
5 G/B 0
Am 0 0 0 0 0 0
# œœ œœ œœ œœ .. .. Gœœ55 œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ
1
œœ œœ œœ ‰ œœœ œœœ œœœ ‰ œœœ œœœ œœœ

& œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ Gœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœj œœœ œœ
G/B Am
# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ .. .. œœ œœ œœ. ‰ œœ œ œ œœ œœ œœ. ‰ œœj œœ

G/B Am
&# œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ . . œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ œœœ

& œœœ œœœ0 œœœ0 œœœ0 œœ0 œœ0 œœ0 . . œ3 ‰ œ3 œ3 ‰
œ œ00 œ00 œ00 œœ00 œœ00 œœ00 . . œœ30 œœ330 œœ330. œœ330 œœ30 œœ30 œœ01 œœ01 œœ01. œœ01 œœ122 œœ01
œ œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 œ022 . . 30 2.
0
0.
T
. . 3330
2 2 2 2 2
A 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2
. . ⇥300
3 3 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤
B
T 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
3
3
3
7
2
3 2
3 2
3 0
1 0
1 1 0 0
1 0
1 0
1
. . 03
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0
A
T4 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 2
0 0
3 0
3 0
3 0
3 0 cont. sim.
3 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1 2
1
⇥3 3≤ ⇥73 ≤ ⇥ ≤
B
A 2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
0
3
0
0
3
7
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
2
0
0
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
0
2
2
⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤ ⇥ ≤
B4 2
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
0
2 2 2 0
cont. sim.
0 0 0 0 0
b6
4 1. cont. 2.
jb j
sim.
# 1.Em U
Em Em Em Em
œœ œœ œœ ‰ Em œ
œ œœ Em
œœ œœ œœ œœ ‰ œœ œœ œœ .. ww
1. 2.
& 3Em œ œœ œœœ 1 œj

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The last five bars provide most interest here, as the drums, bass and guitar play in rhythmic unison. Keep your timing tight and follow the picking directions. Play Em with your second and
third fingers so that your first finger is free to play the Em b 6 variation in bar 7.
april 2015 97
O pen- mic
Songbook
This lead single from Ed Sheeran’s

2014 album, x, sees him crossing over
from his folky indie-pop origins to an
edgier hip-hop influenced R ’n’ B sound.
With 140 million plays on Spotify and
95 million YouTube views for this song
alone, we’d say this change has worked
ed sheeran out well for the Suffolk strummer, and

Sing is certainly a worthy addition to your
acoustic repertoire.
sing
Ed uses a ‘squeeze and release’ fret-
hand muting technique to achieve those
funky, ultra-slick grooves that sound
so good on acoustic guitar. The big
advantage of this technique (as opposed
to muting with your pick hand) is that it
Master the driving barre chords in Ed Sheeran allows your strumming hand to move
and Pharrell Williams’ R ’n’ B chart topper freely, creating strong, driving rhythms
and keeping your timing solid and locked
in with the backing.
There are only three barre chord
shapes to learn, but you’ll need plenty
of strength in your fret hand to play the
© AGF s.r.l./REX
track in full. As usual, you can expect this

to come with a little time and practice.
98 april 2015
Open-Mic Songbook Ed Sheeran |
TGR265.strumalong.fig01.musx
Also Available: ED SHEERAN – X (TAB) sing Sing
TGR265.strumalong.fig01.musx Words and Music by Edward Sheeran and Pharrell WilliamsSing
File Date: 12:31 16/02/2015
(Guitar TAB notation, with lyrics & chord © 2014. EMI April Music, Ed Sheeran
Sony/ATV Music. EMI- Strumalong
Music Publishing
TGR265.strumalong.fig01.musx
File Date: 12:31 16/02/2015
names, 112pp. £16.95 ref. AM1009591) Ed Sheeran
Ltd, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and More-Water From Sing
StrumalongNazareth
Page 1 of 1 16 songs from Ed Sheeran, all specially arranged Contributor: Phil Capone
Ed Sheeran
Publishing Inc
File
PageDate:
1 of 12:31
1 from the16/02/2015
original recordings, in the original keys, UK/EU reproduced
Ed Sheeran
Contributor:
by kind permission
- Strumalong
Phil Capone
of Music Sales Limited.
Notes: in guitar tab & standard notation. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Page 1 of 1 Includes full lyrics, chord symbols and guitar US/CAN reproduced by kind permission of HalPhil
Leonard Corporation.
Notes: EngravedContributor:
by DigitalMusicArt.Com
All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.
Capone
chord boxes. Songs include: Sing, Thinking Out
Sing
Notes: Loud, Don’t, I See Fire and 12 more. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
G#m
Intro/Bridge
G#m j j j j j j
Intro/Bridge Verse/Chorus
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Ed’s funky syncopated rhythms are achieved by applying a ‘squeeze and release’ fret-hand technique. Squeeze (ie, fret) the strings then release pressure, keeping
your fingers in place. As you continue strumming you’ll be playing dry muted strings (indicated with ‘X’s in the tab/notation).
Chords x x
There are only three chords 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
4 4 4
in Sing, but because they are all
barre chords you’ll need plenty 2 2
Guitars and backing: Phil Capone
of stamina to play the song in full.

Practise playing a first-finger barre 3 4 3 4 3
then hammering on your remaining
fingers to the other notes in the
chord, as shown in bars 7 and 8. This
technique is used to create the funky
vibe in the pre-choruses.
G#m C#m C#m7
In
association Find your nearest SP Lifespan dealer here:
with bit.ly/martinsplifespan
april 2015 99
guitar tab Backing track (track 64)
this song comes with a backing track (minus guitar)
on your CD. Simply insert the disc in your player,
press play and jam along guitaraoke style!
bit.ly/martinsplifespan Song sheet video

ww w. bit.ly/tg
265song
G#m C#m
It’s late in the evening Let it go until our roads are changed
Glass on the side Singing we found love in a local rave
I’ve been sat with you No, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to say
For most of the night But I can just figure it out and hope and pray
C#m
Ignoring everybody here
We wish they would disappear Verse G#m
I told her my name and said, “It’s nice to meet ya.”
So maybe we could get down now 4 And then she handed me a bottle of water with tequila
Verse G#m
I already know she’s a keeper
2
I don’t wanna know C#m
Just from this one small act of kindness I’m in deep
If you’re getting ahead of the program If anybody finds out
I want you to be mine, lady I’m meant to drive home but I’ve drunk all of it now
C#m
To hold your body close Not sobering up we just sit on the couch
Take another step into the no-man’s land One thing led to another
For the longest time, lady Now she’s kissing my mouth
Pre- G#m
(Repeat pre-chorus & chorus)
chorus I need you darling

Come on set the tone Bridge Can you G#m
feel it? All the guys in here don’t even wanna dance
If you feel you’re falling Can you feel it? All that I can hear is music from the back
Won’t you let me know? C#m
Can you feel it?
C#m7
Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh Found you hiding here so won’t you take my hand darling
Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh Before the beat kicks in again
G#m
If you love me come on get involved G#m
Can you feel it? Ooh-ooh-ooh oh oh
Feel it rushing through you from your head to toe C#m
Can you feel it? Ooh no no no
C#m7
Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh
Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh Outro G#m
Sing! I need you darling
Chorus G#m
Sing! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Come on set the tone
If you feel you’re falling
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Won’t you let me know?
C#m
Louder! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh C#m7
Louder! Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh
Sing! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh
G#m
Verse G#m
Sing! If you love me come on get involved
3
This love is a blaze Feel it rushing through you from your head to toe
I saw flames from the side of the stage C#m7
Louder! Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh
And the fire brigade comes in a couple of days Oh oh-oh-oh ooh-oh
Until then we got nothing to say and nothing to know Sing!
But something to drink and maybe something to smoke
In
association Find your nearest SP Lifespan dealer here:
with bit.ly/martinsplifespan
100 april 2015

next month on sale 10 April
20
tab’s
back! years of
Led Zeppelin
The Lemon
Song
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inside…
Alt-metal
Round Table:
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Slipknot and Korn
Halestorm
Pompeii YouMeAtSix
Full Rig Tour Gallagher interview
Two full songs with Plus! The players who
© Lawrence Watson
Blackstar BEAM
Will Blackstar’s new amp change
backing tracks! the way you play at home? shaped the genre
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guest lesson
video
lesson
w w w.bit .l
y/tg265to
sin
Tosin Abasi
Tosin shares his eight-string guitar expertise,
covering chords, arpeggios and hybrid picking
Over the last decade or so, the band, Animals As Leaders, has
seven-string guitar has gone from become a ‘go to’ point of reference
being a rarity to a standard tool for extended-range players. In this
within many genres. More recently, lesson, Tosin outlines his approach to
the desire to extend the guitar’s tuning, using eight strings to build
range further has become common, chord shapes and arpeggios, and
and more manufacturers are now navigating across all the strings with
producing eight-string guitars. the use of hybrid picking.
Tosin Abasi has had a big hand in Tosin is tuned to EBEADGBE.
the rising success of the eight- This enables him to gain instant
stringed beast. His unorthodox familiarity with the eighth string,
compositions and extraordinary simply transferring everything from
technique, demonstrated with his the sixth string on to the eighth.
Eight-string chords 1 Eight-string chords 2

o oo o o o o o o o x x x o x x x
21 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
10 5 8 12
2 2 2
1
3 4 3 4 3 2
2
4 3
3
4
Em9 Gmaj13/E A Em9 Eadd#11
o x x x o x x x
1 1 1 1
4 1 1 1 1 1
5 1 1 1 1 1 8 9
2
3 2 2 3
4 3 3
4 4
Amaj7#11
Am(addb13) Cadd#11/E Emaj7
TGR265.guest.fig03.musx 8 string lesson
ForDate:
File chords, 23/02/2015
these14:42 Tosin takes advantage of tuning the eighth and sixth Within these shapes, Tosin uses the full range of the guitar to create
Tosinchords
Abasi
File strings E. This 23/02/2015
Date:to14:42 allows him to fret a standard six-string chord shape and that have huge separation between the highest and lowest notes. Tosin Abasi
Here, Tosin
Page 1 of 1
duplicate Contributor: Jamie Hunt
Page 1 of 1chord tones by barring a finger over the seventh and eighth strings frets some relatively simple shapes on the four treble strings and
Contributor: uses the
Jamie open
Hunt
or, where appropriate, by playing the open seventh and eighth strings.
Notes: eighth string for serious bottom end Engraved
and richness. by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Locating repeated notes

œ œ
q =100
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
q =100
4
& 44& 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
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12
TA T GB
E
B 9 9
12
9 9
Words and transcription: Jamie Hunt
G D 9 9 9 9
D A
AB A
E
E
B
7
7
12 7
7
7
7
B BE E5 5 m
12
m
5
5
m m
Tosin has a great command of the fretboard and understands how often pitches repeat across the neck. He uses this repetition as a basis for building scale and
arpeggio sequences that cover several octaves. For a challenge, try applying this line, which repeats E notes across the neck, to all 12 notes of the chromatic scale.
102 april 2015

File Date: 14:44 23/02/2015 Tosin Abasi
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Jamie Hunt
|
Notes: techniques guest lesson
Em7 arpeggio
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A
E 7 7
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7
9
10
8 string lesson7
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7
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TGR265.guest.fig03.musx
E
Date: ⇥14:48 23/02/2015

⇥ ⇥ ⇥m ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
12
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ TosinTosin
B File
E
B 5 8 8 string lesson
Abasi
5
8 5
0
File Date: 14:42 23/02/2015 m Abasi
Notes:
Here, Tosin takes advantage of repeated notes across the fretboard to build an Em7 arpeggio, which can be continued Engraved
into by sequence.
a three-octave DigitalMusicArt.Com
Take note of
the picking pattern, because Tosin’s economical use of down- and upstrokes, slides and hammer-ons makes string changes and position changes easier.
Emaj7 arpeggio
œ œ
q=
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100
## œ œ œ
œœ œ œ œ œœ
q =100
4& # # 44
Emaj 7
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E E 7 11 7
12
T GBDT GD
B 9 9
9 9 8 99 9 9 8
A AE
A AETGR265.guest.fig06.musx
7 6 7 11
9
7
9
711
8 string lesson 7 6
7 7
B 5Date:
B BEFile 12 8 string lesson
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ m⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ Contributor:
⇥ TosinJamie
B 5 9 9 5
E 5
14:49 23/02/2015 Tosin Abasi 0
Page 1 of 1 Hunt
Tosin recommends learning each of the intervals of the Em7 arpeggio (root, b 3rd, 5th, b 7th) so that you can easilyEngraved
Notes: adapt them toby
play this maj7 arpeggio. All you
DigitalMusicArt.Com
have to do is change the b 3rd (G) and b 7th (D) to a major 3rd and major 7th by raising each note by a semitone to G# and D#.
Emaj7#5 arpeggio
œ #œ œ œ œ œ œ
q=
#
100
#### 4
q =100
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œ
Emaj 7 5
4& 4 œ œ œ # œ œ œ #œ œ
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E E 8 11 8
12
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B 9 9
9 9 8 99 9 9 8
A AE
A AETGR265.guest.fig07.musx
7 8
6 7 11
10
7
10
7 11
8 string lesson
7 6
8
B
⇥ 23/02/2015
⇥ ⇥ m⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ TosinTosin
12
B EFile Date:
B 5
B
E
5
14:51
9 8 string lesson
Abasi
5 9 5
0
Engravedflavour.
on this occasion, Tosin applies his deep knowledge of music theory to the arpeggio template to create a more exotic and atmospheric
Notes: by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Starting with the
Notes:
Emaj7 pattern, he raises each of the 5ths (B notes) by a semitone to give an Emaj7#5 arpeggio. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
Em(maj7) arpeggio
œ œ œ œ #œ œ œ œ
q =100
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Em(maj 7)
4 œ œ
&4 4
&
œ # œ œ œ #œ œ
œ œœ œ œ œ œ
˙.
œ œ ˙
⇤
E E 12 7 11 7
T GBDT GBD 9 9 8 9 9
8 8
9 98
A AEA AE
9 9
7 6 7 10 7 10
7 7 6
7 7
B BEB 5BE 12
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥m ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
5 8 5 8 5
0
m
Once again, Tosin delivers an arpeggio with an unusual sound by altering his template. He combines b 3rds with major 7th notes to form a three-octave Em(maj7)
arpeggio. We recommend trying Tosin’s example and then exploring further sounds that can be created by altering the 3rds, 5ths and 7ths.
april 2015 103

File Date: 14:56 23/02/2015 8 string lesson
Tosin Abasi
|
File Date: 14:56
Page 23/02/2015
1 of 1 Tosin Abasi
Contributor: Jamie Hunt
techniques
Page 1 of 1
Notes: guest lesson Contributor: Jamie Hunt
Basic hybrid
110
picking exercise
q=
Amaj 13
### 4 .
q =110
œ œ œ œ ..
4 .
Amaj 13
# 4 # & œ œ œ œ
& # 4 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ ..
œ let ring throughout œ
. .
E
T G Blet ring throughout
.5 6 .
7 7
T GBD A . DAE .
E 6 6
6 6
A AE B . BE5 .
7 7
6 6
5 6
5
B BE TGR265.guest.fig09.musx m a c m a c
8 string lesson
m a c m a c
File Date:
Having 15:32
eight 23/02/2015
strings Tosin
presents challenges for the picking hand while navigating the strings. ‘Hybrid picking’ is when you use your pick on the bass strings and Abasi
pick-hand
Page 1 offingers
1 on the treble strings. Start slowly and focus on steady timing and consistent picking volume. Contributor: Jamie Hunt
Hybrid-picked chord progression

q =105
F # 7sus 4
1.
œ œ œ œ ˙~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amaj 13 Amaj 7 Eadd 9
## œ œ
A
œ œ œ œ œ
& # 44 .. œ œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ ..
œ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. .
E 7 9 7
T B
. .
7 5 9 10 9 7 10
G 6 6 9 9
D
A A
E 5
6 4 9 7
9
6
B
⇥ ⇥ ⇥ ⇥
B
E
m a c m a c a m a a m m a c a
F # maj G # dim C#7

˙
2.
### nœ œœ œ nœ 5 œ nœ œ 44 ww
Amaj 13
œ
Aaug
& nœ œ œ œ 4 œ œ œ œ w
w
let ring
5 7
T 6
6
7
6 6
5 6
6
6
7
6
A 8
6 9 7 6 6
5
B
⇥ a m c a m c a m ⇥ ≤ m a m c c
⇥ 8 string lesson
a a
TGR265.guest.fig10.musx m

In this
Page 1 short
of 1 musical idea, Tosin applies hybrid picking to an arpeggio-based chord progression. He allocates specific picking fingers to each string to minimise
movement in his pick hand, while keeping the music sounding smooth. Take note of the picking sequence so that you don’t over-rely on your stronger fingers.
Hybrid picking arpeggio

q = 140
C # m add9
œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
## œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
& # # 44 .. œ œ
œ
œ
œ œ œ œ œ ..
œ œ ˙
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. .
E 9 9
T GBD
. .
9 9 9 9
9 9 9 9 9
A AE 12
11
13
12
13
11 11
13
12
13
11
B BE 9 9 9
m a c m a c m a c c a m c a m c a m
this time, Tosin takes an eight-string chord and ascends and descends the shape using hybrid picking. This creates a harp-like texture and a long, interesting phrase
from a single chord. Aim for a consistent attack between each picking finger and try not to rush when changing from string to string.
104 april 2015

Page 1 of 1
Notes:
techniques guest lesson
Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com |
Pick-hand tapping
# 4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
q = 86
& #4 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
E
T B
G
D
14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14
A A
D
16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
B B
E

In this exercise, Tosin uses his picking hand to tap a repeating two-note figure. This acts as a metronome and also establishes a sparse harmonic texture. Tosin uses
the first and second finger of his pick hand to tap because they sit conveniently over the required frets.
Fret-hand tapping
q== 86
F#m
q 86
œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
7/G 7 7sus 2
2
#
F m A7
A /G Dmaj 7
Dmaj B7
B sus
& # 44 .. œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ
. 1414
E
E
B
.
T B
G
G
D
14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14
A D
A
A
D
D
16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16
B B
B
E
#
E
j
& # 44 .. œ . œ ˙ œ œ. œ œ.
œ œ
.
E
E
B
T
.
B
G
G
D
D
A A
A
D 4 5 7 9
B D
B
B
E
E
4 5
3
3
7 9
6/C # F#m
# œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ 3 œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ œ . 4 w
A77/G 7
Dmaj 7 A6 m
A /G Dmaj A /C F
& # 4 . 4
.
.
T 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14 14
14
A 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16 16
16
B
# œ. .. 44 w
43
& # œ œ œ. œ œ œ œ œ. œ
( )
T .
A 12
12 11
11
. 4
4
B 8
8
Here, Tosin continues the tapped line from the previous example and adds a melody with his fretting hand. We recommend practising the two parts separately to
begin with. There are no picked notes, so you’ll have to tap every note. Practise slowly and focus on timing, strong tapping and accurate finger placement.
april 2015 105

get your grades!
Rockschool: Premiere Exam/Lesson two
Rests
Stop for a moment and learn about the sound of
video
lesson
w w w.b it .l
y/tg 265 ro
ck
silence as Rockschool introduces you to rests

Silence is a big part of music. rhythms. In music notation, these watch out for. You must make sure Premiere
What you don’t play is just as
TGR265.grades_rock.fig01.musx silences are called rests. Every note notes preceding rests are
Let's Rock silenced
Part 2 at Exam Book
important as what you do. However value has an equivalent rest. the right time and that you use the
File Date: 09:38 16/02/2015 Rockschool Buy Rockschool’s
brilliant a musician is, a constant Rockschool’s Premiere Exam track, correct technique to ensure the note
1 notes
of 1 quickly becomes ‘Let’s Rock’ book to get
Page of stops. Watch the videoUings
Contributor: James
Œ
stream Rock City, uses quarter-note (one lesson for a the rest of the syllabus.
boring
Notes: if it never stops. Breaks in the beat) and half-note (two beats)Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
detailed look at these techniques. Go to: www.
music allow riffs and melodies to rests. While playing nothing might For more information, go to musicroom.com
breathe and help create interesting seem easy, there are a few things to www.rockschool.co.uk
Quarter-note rests
& 44 Œ Œ Œ Œ Œ Œ Œ Œ
Quarter note rests
TGR265.grades_rock.fig02.musx Let's Rock Part 2

T Date: 09:39 16/02/2015
File Rockschool
A 1 of 1
Page Contributor: James Uings
Ó
B
These are quarter-note (aka crotchet) rests. Like quarter notes, they last for one beat and four of them fill a bar.
Half-note rests
& 44 Ó Ó Ó Ó
Half note rests
TGR265.grades_rock.fig03.musx
T Let's Rock Part 2
A
File
B Date: 16:11 09/02/2015 Rockschool
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: James Uings
Notes:
These are half-note (aka minim) rests. Like half notes, they last for two beats and two of them fill a bar. Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com
‘Rock City’ (bars 5-8) tracks 65-66

q = 90
# 4 N.C. Œ Ó
& 4 œ œ œ ˙ ˙ œ œ ˙
œ œ
T 0 2 0 2 0
A 2 0 2 0 2
B
Stop fretted notes from sounding by releasing pressure on the string. Don’t take your finger all the way off, just stop pressing and the string will go quiet. Stop open
strings from sounding by placing your pick hand lightly on the strings where they meet the guitar bridge.
106 april 2015

|
techniques gET YOUR Grades
RGT / Performance Award / Level Three

video
6/8 time
Take your rhythm playing up a gear with the swinging
grooves of the 6/8 time signature…
lesson
w w w.b it .l
y/tg 265 rg
t
Performance
Tackling a new time signature about the theory – this oft-used notes ring out cleanly before trying Awards
can inject creative new ideas into time signature is easy to play once a few changes. Practise the 6/8
your playing, and many legendary you have the sound in your head. rhythm by playing six evenly RGT is the UK’s only
specialist guitar
songs are not based on the staple We’ve printed a typical Level spaced downstrokes and accenting examination board.
‘four to the floor’ 4/4 time. Some of Three rhythm chart for you to play the first and fourth strokes. This You can download a
RGT’s Level Three rhythm charts through below. At this level, you are picking approach leaves room for free Performance
are in 6/8 time, which means there expected to be able to use barre you to add in the odd upstroke as Awards syllabus and
are six eighth-note rhythmic pulses chords throughout. Have a go at you see fit. Count to six as you play find a registered guitar
in every bar. Don’t worry too much the chords, checking that all the to stay in time. tutor to help prepare
you for RGT exams at
www.rgt.org
Level Three chords
x x x x
1 1 1 1 1 7 1 1 4 1 1
5 5
2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1
3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 3 4 2
3 4 3 4
TGR265.grades_rgt.fig01.musx Grade 3
File Date: 10:06
A
26/02/2015 F#m D E C#m Bm
RGT
Page 1 of 1 Contributor: Tony Skinner
Notes: These are the chord shapes that we’ve used to play through this month’s rhythm chart. Take your time and make sure all the notesEngraved by out
of each chord ring DigitalMusicArt.Com
clearly, and
avoid striking any strings marked with an X; these should stay silent.
Level Three rhythm chart

68 .. ’ ..
’ ’ ’ ’ ’
Fairly slow
F#m F#m C#m

p
A D E
’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’ ’
f p
Bm E A
RGT has marked this chart ‘Fairly slow’, so play steadily but not too quickly. Overall, your playing should have a relaxed feel about it. Count to six to keep time; we’ve
used some upstrokes in our playthrough, which you can equate to an ‘&’ in between the main beats. Watch the video for an explanation.
april 2015 107

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108 april 2015
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april 2015 109

techniques tab guide |
Tab Guide
Get more from TG by understanding our easy-to-follow musical terms and signs
What is tab?
Tab is short for tablature, a the sixth (thick) string at the Unfretted strings are shown
notational system used to give bottom to the first (thin) string with a ‘0’. The key and time
detailed information as to at the top. On these lines, signatures are shown in the
where notes should be played numbers represent the frets traditional notation. TG also
on the fretboard. Tab appears where you should place your includes a timestamp to tell
underneath conventional fingers. For example, an A note you where in the original track
music notation as six on the 2nd fret, third string, will you’ll find each example.
horizontal lines that represent be shown as a number ‘2’ on Finally, a tempo marking is
the strings of the guitar, from the third line down on the tab. expressed in beats per minute.
FRET BOXES: chords, scales and capo notation

Hand labelling Nut and Fretboard Chord example
2 m o o o o o o o o o
3 1 i a
4 c
1
T p
2 3
G
Here are the abbreviations used for each finger. Fretting hand: 1, 2, 3, 4, (T) This fretbox diagram represents the guitar’s fretboard exactly, as seen in the photo. This diagram represents a G chord. The ‘o’s are open strings, and a circled number
Picking hand: p (thumb), i (index), m (middle), a (annular), c (little finger) This design is used for ease of visualising a fretboard scale or chord quickly. is a fretting hand finger. A black ‘o’ or circled number is the root note (here, G).
capo example capo notation scale example

o o o x o o
CAPO 2nd
FRET >
CAPO 2nd
FRET > 4 1 1 1 1
1
2 2 2 2
1 2
3 3
2 3 3
4 4 4 4 4
A major scale
A (G) D (C)
The blue line in the diagram represents a capo – for this A chord, place it at the Here the chord looks like a C in the tab, but the capo on the 2nd fret raises the The fret box diagram illustrates the fret hand fingering for the A major scale using
2nd fret. Capos change the fret number ordering. Here, the original 5th fret now pitch to make it a D. The 2nd fret capo’d notes are shown with a ‘0’ in the tab as black dots for root notes and red dots for other scale tones. The photo shows part of
becomes the 3rd fret, 7th fret now 5th fret, etc. if they were open strings. the scale being played on the fourth string with the first, third and fourth fingers.
Guitar techniques: Picking

Down and up-picking Tremolo picking Palm Muting pick Rake Appreggiated chord
The symbols under the tab tell you the Each of the four notes are to be Palm-mute by resting the edge of Drag the pick across the strings shown Play the notes of the chord by
first note is to be down-picked and the alternate-picked (down and up-picked) your picking hand palm on the strings with a single sweep. This is often used strumming across the relevant strings
second note is to be up-picked. very rapidly and continuously. near the bridge saddles. to augment a rake’s last note. in the direction of the arrow head.
110 april 2015

techniques tab guide |
Fretting Hand
Hammer-on & Pull-off NOTE TRILLS Slides (glissando) fret hand tapping Fret hand muting
Pick the first note then hammer down After picking the first note, rapidly Pick the first note and then slide to the Sound the notes marked with a square X markings represent notes and
on the string for the second note. Pick the alternate between the two notes shown in next. For the last two notes pick the first, by hammering-on/tapping with your fret strings that are muted by your fret hand
third note and pull-off for the fourth note. brackets using hammer-ons and pull-offs. slide to the next and then re-pick it (RP). hand fingers, instead of picking. when struck by your picking hand.
Bending And vibrato

Bend and Release re-picked bend pre-bend quarter-tone bend Vibrato
Fret the first note (here, the 5th Bend up to the pitch shown in the silently bend the string up from the 5th Pick the note then bend up a quarter- Your fretting hand vibrates the string by
fret) and bend up to the pitch of the brackets, then re-pick the note while fret (PB5) to the pitch of the 7th fret note, tone (a very small amount). This is small bend-ups and releases. Exaggerate
bracketed note, before releasing again. holding the bent note at the pitch shown. pick it and release to the 5th fret note. sometimes referred to as a ‘blues curl’. this effect to create a ‘wide’ vibrato.
Harmonics
Natural Harmonics Artificial Harmonics pinched Harmonics Tapped harmonics touched harmonics
Pick the note while lightly touching Fret the note as shown, then lightly After fretting the note in the triangle, Place your finger on the note as shown, A previously sounded note is
the string directly over the fret place your index finger directly over ‘x’ dig into the string with the side of your but sound it with a quick pick hand tap at touched above the fret marked TCH
indicated. A chiming harmonic results. fret (AH‘x’) and pick (with a pick, p or a). thumb as you sound it with the pick. the fret shown (TH17) for a harmonic. (eg, TCH 9) for it to sound a harmonic.
Vibrato bar / whammy bar

Whammy bar bends Scoop and doop Sustained note and Divebomb Gargle Whammy bar vibrato
The note is picked as shown, then the Scoop: depress the bar just before A Note is sustained then the vibrato Sound the note and ‘flick’ the vibrato Gently rock the whammy bar to
vibrato bar is raised and lowered to the striking the note and release. Doop: bar is depressed to slack. The square bar with your picking hand so it ‘quivers’. repeatedly bend the pitch up and down.
pitches shown in brackets. lower the bar slightly after picking note. bracket indicates a further articulation. This results in a ‘gargling’ sound! This sounds similar to fret hand vibrato.
Others
Pick scrape Violining Finger numbering pima directions Pick hand tapping
The edge of the pick is dragged either Turn the volume control down, The numbers in the traditional Any kind of fingerpicking Tap (hammer-on) with a finger of
down or up along the lower strings to sound the note(s) and then turn the notation refer to the fingers required to requirements are shown at the bottom your picking hand onto the fret marked
produce a scraped sound. volume up for a smooth fade in. play each note. of the tab notation. with a circle. Usually with ‘i’ or ‘m’.
april 2015 111

The Final Countdown
Things Your
Guitar Says
About You
Words: Henry Yates
9. Two strings and one bridge pickup
Whoa, dude – you’re so punk it hurts. Only squares
such as Cliff Richard have a full set of strings and a
selection of pickups. Your guitar is stripped to the
bone, reflecting the age of austerity you’re raging
against. This also means you can play only three
powerchords, and all your songs sound the same.
8. Cigarette in headstock
You tried clamping a Marlboro in your gob while
playing, but the smoke got in your eyes and made
you cry a bit, which undermined the Keith Richards
outlaw vibe you’re shooting for. Now you’ve
settled for wedging it under the low E, occasionally
burning the bassist when he strays too close.
7. Scalloped frets
The tell-tale sign of the technique-obsessed
widdler. If you have inexplicably filed down your
fretboard, it’s a fair bet that you recently topped Jimmy Page is a towering,
Music is just a vehicle Steve Vai’s 12-hour practice regime, and now multiple-neck toting guitar god…
for your goal of saving
the bipolar polar bears spend 24 hours a day sweep picking, even while you almost certainly aren’t…
showering, shaving and shitting.
2. Onboard 1. Low strap
6. Covered in stickers Kaoss Pad
10. Political slogan Your guitar looks like a Panini album with strings, For a sonic maverick
It’s not about aptitude,
on soundboard slathered in stickers for esoteric US engine oils that like you, picking strings man. It’s all about
nobody has ever heard of. You’re either a Bay Area
Hey, you’re not just a skate-punk… or you desperately want to be.
with a plectrum is
so last millennium.
attitude. Like Sid
guitarist. You actually Instead, the gig will be Vicious with a stoop,
prefer to think of 5. Distressed finish spent jabbing at the your guitar is slung
You’d like everyone to believe that you’re a life-long touchscreen as if you’re
yourself as a protest road dog, just blowin’ through town on another playing Angry Birds, so ankle-clatteringly
singer, yeah? Music is tour of duty, baby. The only problem is, everyone sampling and chopping low that you can only
knows you’re rocking a Road Worn Tele, and this is up your frontman’s
really your method of your first time playing outside the bedroom. vocals in real-time, just reach to mis-hit Photography: Joby Sessions Amanda Thomas Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns
alerting the West to while everyone in the the occasional root

the plight of China’s 4. Strings not clipped off tuning posts crowd wishes you’d just
note. Over time, you
You’re a barefoot beat-poet type, and you won’t play some chords.
marginalised Uighur surrender to The Man by conforming to string- will gradually evolve,
people. Hence you cutting protocol. Until you spike your finger on the
sharp end of the high E.
your arms elongating
scrawl platitudes until you resemble
such as ‘Come On, 3. Multiple necks an orangutan in a
Some people write songs. You think of yourself
Guys, Let’s All Get as more of a visionary, creating shape-shifting Sex Pistols t-shirt.
Along’ around your odysseys, awash with tones and timbres, which You look absolutely
require you to dart between four different neck
acoustic soundhole in formats. The truth is, you don’t really know how to
ridiculous – but you’re
permanent marker. play 12-string, baritone or fretless. totally punk-rock.
Bar chords, you say? Pah,
this is sonic architecture
112 april 2015

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editor’s letter

Music Engraver Simon Troup

Future is an award-winning international media group and

Future plc is a public Chief executive Zillah Byng-Maddick

up your In Praise Of Jackson Randy Rhoads���������������������������������� 016

050 metal 046 016

the killers 092 Subscribe now & Save!

The Matte Army Drab finish

Photography: Simon Lees

1 Pickups 2 Finish 3 neck

© Jeff Allen at Orion’s Eye Photography

In the Studio EVH/Peavey 5150s

Greg guided producer

Mayones guitars were an

that way because rock ’n’ roll can

5 minutes alone who could play real good in the

of clouds around this and we

Randy Rhoads commissions Grover Jackson to

Major pentatonic scale (shape 2) OF THE MONTH

TGR265.mon_scale.ﬁg01.musx Major pentatonic shape 2

Poisso n tracks 09-10

Mar r’s bar s q = 200 tracks 11-12

are played with

Bend it like BB tracks 13-14

of blues legend BB King.

WHAt is tHe nAme oF

enter online noW For Free At: http://bit.ly/watchcompo

Strymon’s team includes

Head over to www.

The third album from the

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Take your pick from TC’s TonePrint series, including

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You’re stuffed! You’ve really

facebook.com/totalguitar twitter.com/totalguitar youtube.com/totalguitar

‘Grungegrass’? Country metal? The Nashville

Mirror, mirror on the wall,

“Well, all of the country stuff was when I was

Step 1 Choose a technical exercise Step 1 Identify technical errors

4 œœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœœ œœœ œ œ œ ~~~~~~~~~

Hammer on then pull off track 16

Page 1 ofs1inaudible. Start each exercise slowly

Picking volume track 17 Fourth-finger dexterity track 18

Blues lick track 19

rock lick track 20

TGR265.coverfeature.ﬁg07.musx Speed Up Your Lead

shred lick track 21

Pentatonic stretch track 23

Position shift track 24 First-finger accuracy track 25

Blues lick track 26

TGR265.coverfeature.ﬁg13.musx Speed Up Your Lead

rock lick track 27

TGR265.coverfeature.ﬁg14.musx Speed Up Your Lead

Notes: Engraved by DigitalMusicArt.Com

shred lick track 28

Perfectly-timed down-picking track 30

Up-pick on the beat track 31 String change track 32

up your In Praise Of Jackson Randy Rhoads�� 016